Republicans Charged in Voting Machine Tampering Probe in Michigan

Matthew DePerno, Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general, speaks during a rally at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Oct. 12, 2021. Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP

Two Republicans, including a former candidate for Michigan attorney general, have been charged by a special prosecutor investigating tampering with voting machines.

Matthew DePerno, who lost a 2022 bid to unseat Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and unauthorized access to computers, according to court records.

Former state Rep. Daire Rendon, another Republican, was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a machine and false pretenses.

Both were arraigned and released, court records show.

Mr. DePerno’s lawyer said in a statement that the defendant “categorically denies any wrongdoing” and “looks forward to the date when his innocence will be demonstrated in a court of law.”

Requests for comment sent to Mr. DePerno and a lawyer representing Ms. Rendon weren’t returned.

“The charging decision was the result of a thorough decision-making process by an independent citizens’ grand jury,” Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said in a statement to news outlets. “This citizens’ grand jury carefully listened to the sworn testimony and analyzed the evidence as required by law and returned a decision to indict each of the defendants.”

Mr. Hilson was appointed by the Michigan Prosecuting Attorney’s Coordinating Council after a referral from Ms. Nessel due to Mr. DePerno running in the election, which hadn’t yet taken place at that point.

Ms. Nessel’s office said she hadn’t been involved in the investigation since Mr. Hilson was appointed.

“A grand jury indictment requires a prosecutor to meet a much higher threshold than the more routine charging process in Michigan. In this instance, the special prosecutor took the additional, extraordinary measure of seeking a court ruling on the legality of at least one of the charges prior to closing the presentation of the facts in order to secure the indictments,” Ms. Nessel said in a statement.

She had asked for the special prosecutor after Michigan State Police gathered evidence that she said showed a plan for Mr. DePerno and others to gain access to voting machines and take the devices to other locations for testing.

Ms. Rendon took part in the plan, according to the petition for a special prosecutor.

Mr. Hilson had asked the courts which individuals can authorize people to possess voting equipment, and Oakland County Judge Phyllis McMillen said that only the secretary of state has that power.

Some of the individuals identified by Ms. Nessel had argued that local clerks gave them permission to take the machines.

Mr. Hilson indicated that the investigation is continuing.

“Still more to come unrelated to the individuals currently charged," Mr. Hilson said in an email.

Lawsuit

Mr. DePerno represented a voter who sued after the 2020 election after Antrim County acknowledged it had reported an erroneous vote count that had then-candidate Joe Biden with more votes than he actually received, and then-President Donald Trump with fewer votes than he actually received.

The case was ultimately dismissed.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Antrim County officials attributed what happened to human error and said the proper vote count was later delivered.

A Republican-controlled Michigan Senate panel later said it didn’t find evidence of “widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.” The committee said that Ms. Nessel should consider investigating people who “have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends.”

Mr. DePerno’s lawyer said the new indictment “arises from a court ordered forensic investigation of the Antrim County election.”

Other Charges

In a separate investigation, Ms. Nessel announced criminal charges last month against 16 Republicans who she said submitted false certificates as electors for Mr. Trump in Michigan, a state won by Mr. Biden.

“The false electors’ actions undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan,” Ms. Nessel said in a statement.

An attorney representing one of the people who were charged said that they followed their constitutional duty.

“The Attorney General is weaponizing the legal system to attack ordinary citizens for simply following through on what they were duly and lawfully nominated by their party to do. The 16 co-defendants were simply following through on their nominated status as electors,” David Kallman, the attorney, told The Epoch Times.

He noted that other states had offered alternate electors, including Hawaii in the 1960 presidential election, and that those slates weren’t charged.

Trump Indicted

This week, Mr. Trump was indicted on charges related to his efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 election.

A federal grand jury approved charges presented by special counsel Jack Smith, an appointee of Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Under the indictment, Mr. Trump conspired to overturn the election despite knowing claims made about election fraud were false.

Mr. Trump says he’s being prosecuted because he’s the leading Republican nominee in the 2024 election. He referred to the charges as “fake.”

Steven Kovac and The Associated Press contributed to this report.