No one has faced trial for 2020 鈥榝ake electors鈥� plan. In Wisconsin, it might happen.
The effort to overturn the 2020 election by organizing slates of alternate electors for President Donald Trump began in the swing state of Wisconsin. Now, the fitful attempt to hold those organizers accountable might hang on what happens there.
On Monday, three people charged in what became known as the 鈥渇ake electors鈥� plan are in court for a pretrial hearing in a case that is one of a vanishing few still moving forward.
Trump electors were central to the campaign鈥檚 attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, to prevent Joe Biden from being certified as winner of the 2020 election. Mr. Trump鈥檚 lawyers sought to strong-arm Vice President Mike Pence into delaying the vote tally by Congress on the grounds that several states, including Wisconsin, had submitted 鈥渄ual slates鈥� of electors.
Why We Wrote This
Criminal cases against those accused of planning a 鈥渇ake elector鈥� scheme to keep President Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss have mostly run aground. In Wisconsin, a case involving three key figures in the effort might be headed for trial.
Those electors represent each state鈥檚 actual votes for president. If Mr. Pence, presiding over the vote tally in Congress, had agreed to Mr. Trump鈥檚 demand to count the alternate slates or to let Congress decide the winner, Mr. Trump could have remained in office despite Mr. Biden receiving more votes. After Mr. Pence refused, a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Nearly five years on, no campaign officials or advisers have been tried for organizing the fake electors in seven battleground states. A court in Georgia recently ended a criminal case in which Mr. Trump and 18 other defendants had been indicted in August 2023 for racketeering and other offenses. In September, against 15 Republicans charged with fraud for certifying Mr. Trump as the 2020 winner. Criminal prosecutions in other states have stalled or faced setbacks.
That makes Wisconsin a potential test case for accountability for what was considered a national crisis of democratic legitimacy, which continues to cast a shadow over how America鈥檚 elections are run.
Last year, Wisconsin charged three Trump allies over the fake-electors scheme. Two, James Troupis and Kenneth Chesebro, were attorneys for the Trump campaign; the third, Michael Roman, was Trump鈥檚 national director of Election Day operations. They each
The three were among by Mr. Trump for all conduct relating to the scheme and 鈥渢heir efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election.鈥� That pardon 鈥� largely symbolic because none face federal charges 鈥� doesn鈥檛 apply, however, to state courts. (Mr. Trump also has pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.)
None of the 10 fake electors, who met secretly in Wisconsin鈥檚 statehouse on Dec. 14, 2020, as the state鈥檚 legitimate electors were casting their votes for Mr. Biden, has been charged. Instead, Wisconsin prosecutors are focusing on the people who developed the fake-elector strategy.
鈥淚t was these lawyers in Wisconsin who cooked up the whole scheme and exported it to the rest of the country,鈥� says Jeff Mandell, the co-founder of Law Forward, a left-leaning law firm in Madison, Wisconsin.
In 2023, Wisconsin鈥檚 fake electors settled a civil lawsuit brought by Law Forward, admitting to their role in the scheme. Mr. Troupis, a retired judge who was Mr. Trump鈥檚 attorney in Wisconsin, and Mr. Chesebro, , were both part of the settlement. that detail how Mr. Chesebro鈥檚 legal theory of alternate electors was enthusiastically adopted by Mr. Troupis and shared with the Trump campaign. Mr. Chesebro then provided templates for other states to prepare slates of electors for Mr. Trump.
鈥淭hey knew what they were doing, and now they鈥檙e trying to escape the consequences,鈥� says Mr. Mandell, referring to defense motions to dismiss the case.
Joseph Bugni, a lawyer for Mr. Troupis, declined to comment on the felony charges. Lawyers for Mr. Chesebro and Mr. Roman didn鈥檛 respond to emailed requests for comment.
after his indictment, telling reporters at the courthouse that 鈥渢his is a political case. This has nothing to do with the law.鈥� He accused Mr. Kaul, a Democrat first elected in 2019, of hurting the cause of justice.
Last month, that Democrats wanted to put him on trial so that they could revive 鈥渢he Jack Smith case,鈥� referring to the federal indictment of Mr. Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 results, which was abandoned after the 2024 election. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to try the Jack Smith case in Dane County, Wisconsin, next summer on live television,鈥� he said.
Scheme was 鈥渁 fantasy鈥� in Wisconsin
Mr. Troupis and others involved in the scheme have argued that Democrats did the same in 1960, when there was uncertainty about Hawaii鈥檚 presidential electors. Of the two slates of electors submitted to Congress, the votes ultimately went to John F. Kennedy.
But this analogy doesn鈥檛 hold water, says Michael Rosin, Hawaii was holding a recount at the time, whereas Wisconsin had already held a recount that affirmed Mr. Biden鈥檚 narrow victory. The electors in Hawaii met openly in the same room with the state鈥檚 governor, who certified both sets of paperwork.
鈥淚n 1960, it was very important to the new state of Hawaii to do everything right,鈥� he says.
The Republican electors in Wisconsin could have inserted legal language that made their votes conditional on the election result being reviewed by the Supreme Court, he says. But their slate would still not have been certified as alternate electors, as Hawaii鈥檚 was in 1960.
鈥淭his was just a fantasy on the part of Chesebro that they could change the path in Wisconsin and elsewhere,鈥� Mr. Rosin says.
Mr. Chesebro was also among those indicted in Georgia鈥檚 election-interference case. Heto a single charge and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. By then, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had become a national political figure who seemed poised to bring Mr. Trump to trial. Mr. Chesebro鈥檚 inside knowledge of the fake-electors scheme, also pursued in Georgia, made him an important potential witness.
But Ms. Willis suffered a spectacular fall a few months later after it with whom she was romantically involved. She was removed from the case last December. after Ms. Willis鈥檚 replacement said it wasn鈥檛 feasible to proceed, as Mr. Trump鈥檚 presidential term would delay any trial for several years, depriving defendants of their right to a speedy trial.
鈥淭he legal question is really secondary to the practical questions,鈥� says Anthony Michael Kreis, an associate professor of law at Georgia State University who has followed the case.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 criminal indictment in Georgia, where he had urged the state鈥檚 top election official in 2020 to 鈥渇ind鈥� sufficient votes to flip the outcome, . Supporters rallied to defend him against what he called 鈥渓awfare鈥� by Democratic prosecutors, and his campaign swept aside opponents in the Republican primary. His campaign sold branded items featuring Mr. Trump鈥檚 booking mugshot from Fulton County.
鈥淎 moment of potential reconciliation鈥�
That the Georgia case has collapsed is regrettable, and not simply because justice had not run its course, says Professor Kreis. He says a trial would have served another purpose: setting the record straight about an election that Mr. Trump still falsely claims he won.
鈥淚t was fundamentally, in my view, a moment of potential reconciliation where people could see through evidence for their own selves that there was a group of people who were lying to the American public in order to keep themselves in power,鈥� he says.
In 2022, Congress amended the Electoral Count Act to clarify the Vice President鈥檚 ceremonial role in the certification of votes in Congress.
After the presidential election in 2028, Vice President JD Vance, who is expected to seek the GOP nomination, would preside over that process. Mr. Vance said last year that had he been in Mr. Pence鈥檚 position, and that states should have submitted 鈥渕ultiple slates鈥� that Congress should 鈥渉ave fought over.鈥�
Mr. Mandell says he doesn鈥檛 expect a future presidential candidate to try another fake-electors scheme. But he argues that it鈥檚 still important to hold the Wisconsin masterminds of 2020 to account after Mr. Trump issued preemptive federal pardons.
鈥淚f the message is, 鈥榥o harm no foul鈥� ... we create the incentives for something more extreme next time,鈥� he says.
