Which specific charges have been brought against alternate electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada and what penalties do they carry?
Executive summary
Four states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada—have brought criminal charges connected to the so‑called “fake electors” who signed rival certificates after the 2020 election; the indictments differ sharply by state, ranging from multi‑count fraud and RICO‑style allegations in Georgia and Arizona to forgery and fraudulent‑document counts in Michigan and Nevada, and published reporting ties some of those counts to felony penalties though exact sentencing ranges vary by statute and jurisdiction [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Arizona: nine counts for each of 11 alleged electors tied to a broad conspiracy
Arizona’s April 2024 indictment named 11 people who presented themselves as Arizona electors and charged each of those electors with nine criminal counts, framing the fake‑electors act as part of a wider scheme that also names high‑level campaign figures; one of the electors later pleaded guilty to filing a false instrument [2] [5]. The published reporting emphasizes the indictment’s breadth and alignment with the multi‑count strategy used in Georgia, but the publicly available summaries do not translate every count into an exact statutory sentence in Arizona reporting cited here, so precise prison‑and‑fine ranges for each count are not available from these sources [2] [6].
2. Georgia: racketeering plus fraud, forgery and related felonies
Fulton County’s December 2023 indictment against multiple actors tied to the Georgia scheme charges a subset of alleged fake electors with serious counts including racketeering (RICO), offering a false instrument for filing, and uttering a forged instrument, along with allegations such as impersonating a public officer and making false statements and writings; the Georgia indictment runs to dozens of counts overall, although not every defendant faces every charge [1]. Reporting situates those counts within felony frameworks used by prosecutors there, but the sources in this packet do not provide a single consolidated statutory sentencing table for each charged count; still, racketeering and forgery‑related felonies in Georgia are treated as major criminal offenses under state law [1] [4].
3. Michigan: forgery and election‑law felonies focused on the electors themselves
Michigan’s attorney general filed charges against 16 people described as false electors in mid‑2023; news coverage and backgrounders identify criminal counts that include forgery, election‑law violations, conspiracy, and “fraudulent schemes and artifices,” with those fraud and conspiracy counts characterized as felonies of significant gravity in Michigan reporting [7] [3]. Lawfare’s analysis explains that Michigan’s counts—conspiracy and fraudulent‑schemes charges among them—are felonies (often of the second‑highest level under Michigan law), but the precise maximum sentences and fine ranges for each specific count are not tabulated in the materials provided here [3] [7].
4. Nevada: two felony counts of submitting fraudulent documents (and procedural twists)
A December 2023 Clark County grand jury returned an indictment charging six Nevada Republicans with two felonies apiece for submitting fraudulent documents to state and local officials—essentially accusing them of creating and filing false electoral certificates—though the Nevada prosecution experienced procedural setbacks when a judge dismissed the initial case for jurisdictional reasons and prosecutors later refiled in Carson City [4]. Nevada reporting here notes proposals elsewhere to criminalize fake‑elector schemes with penalties up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $5,000, but that proposed statute is not the same as the existing charges and so cannot be cited as the sentence for the December 2023 indictments without additional statutory citation [8] [4].
5. What the record does and does not show about penalties
Contemporary reporting ties most of these charges to felony statutes—racketeering, forgery, fraudulent‑schemes, conspiracy, false instruments and submitting fraudulent documents—and treats them as serious offenses under state law [1] [3] [2] [4]. However, the sources provided summarize counts and prosecutorial theory rather than listing statutory maximums for each count in each state; while Nevada legislative proposals have suggested penalties of up to 10 years and modest fines for a defined “false slate” crime, that proposal is distinct from the existing indictments described in these reports and should not be conflated with actual sentencing ranges absent statutory citation [8] [4].
6. Competing narratives, prosecutorial choices and political context
News outlets and advocates frame the charges either as necessary accountability for an alleged nationwide fraud (attorneys general and Democratic prosecutors in several states) or as politically motivated prosecutions aimed at Trump allies (state Republican parties and some defendants); reporters note that the Arizona and Georgia indictments are broader and more politically resonant because they sweep in campaign figures, while Michigan and Nevada prosecutions have largely targeted the electors themselves—nuances that affect perceived stakes and defense strategies [2] [1] [9]. The materials here also record procedural developments—dismissals, refiled charges, plea deals and cooperation agreements in connected prosecutions—that shape outcomes independently of nominal sentence exposure [5] [4] [7].