PHOENIX — The indictment filed against 11 "fake electors" does not accuse any of them of election interference, or any election-related charges. Instead, they're charged with conspiracy, forgery and fraudulent schemes. Here's why they were indicted.
All 11 were part of Arizona's "fake electors", an alternate slate of electors representing Donald Trump from the state of Arizona. Normally the slate of electors from the winning candidate represents the state in the Electoral College.
But in this case, Donald Trump lost the state of Arizona in 2020, despite unfounded allegations of fraud and multiple court challenges.
The indictment alleges the 11 defendants weren't really concerned about who actually won the election. Instead, Attorney General Kris Mayes said, they wanted to give former Vice President Mike Pence the option to overturn the election on his own.
"The defendants intended that the false votes for Trump and Pence would encourage Vice President Pence to reject the certified Biden-Harris electors' votes, regardless of the result of any legal challenge," Mayes said in a video announcing the indictment Wednesday.
Previous defendants in other fake elector cases (there are cases in seven states) have argued that they simply acted as an option or placeholder, in case a legal challenge or recount flipped the state.
They've pointed to the 1960 election in Hawaii when recounts delayed the certification of the state's presidential vote. Hawaii did send two slates of electors to the electoral college, though only one was actually counted. Hawaii's vote went to John F. Kennedy, who did win the state. At the time, there was concern that the state would not meet its requirement to certify the vote on time.
However, Hawaii's 1960 vote is different from Arizona's 2020 vote.
According to the indictment, by the time the defendants met to sign their phony documentation, the state's vote had already been decided.
Mayes said there was no ongoing legal challenge in the state by December 14, 2020, and there was no recount.
The form the 11 defendants signed also included this text: "WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Arizona, do hereby certify the following: ...".
However, Mayes said, none of the "fake electors" were elected and representing the state in any capacity, as the election had already been decided when they signed it.
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