Democracy Dies in Darkness

Michigan Republicans charged in connection with 2020 voting machine tampering

August 1, 2023 at 3:53 p.m. EDT
Matthew DePerno, the Republican candidate for the attorney general of Michigan, during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 7. (Evan Cobb for The Washington Post)

A former Michigan lawmaker and a losing candidate for state attorney general were charged with felonies Tuesday as part of an investigation into the improper acquisition of voting machines.

Special prosecutor D.J. Hilson since last year has been looking into efforts by a group of conservatives to persuade election clerks to give them voting machines as they attempted to prove the 2020 presidential election had been wrongly called for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. The group never turned up any proof, and courts in dozens of cases across the country ruled that the election was properly decided.