# Fake Electors Scheme The multi-state operation in which groups of Trump supporters in seven states that Biden won (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) signed fraudulent certificates claiming to be the legitimate presidential electors for those states — creating false documents that were filed with the National Archives and Congress as part of a plan to give [[Vice President Pence]] a pretext to reject or delay certification of the election on January 6, 2021. The fake electors scheme was the most operationally complex component of [[Stop the Steal]]: a centrally coordinated, multi-state conspiracy to manufacture false legal documents, involving dozens of participants across seven jurisdictions, and producing the most widespread criminal liability of any element of the post-election effort. ## How It Worked ### The Electoral College System Under the Constitution, each state certifies its own slate of presidential electors after the popular vote. Those electors meet in their respective state capitals on a designated day in December to cast their electoral votes, which are then transmitted to Congress for counting on January 6. The system assumes legitimate certification at every step. ### The Scheme's Design [[Kenneth Chesebro]] authored the legal memos that provided the scheme's architecture, writing between November and December 2020: **Step 1 — Recruit Signers**: In each of the seven target states, organizers recruited groups of Trump supporters willing to sign certificates claiming to be the legitimate presidential electors. These were typically Republican Party officials, activists, and operatives. Each state required enough signers to fill the full elector slate. **Step 2 — Produce Fraudulent Certificates**: The fake elector groups produced documents that closely mimicked the format of legitimate electoral certificates — complete with official-looking language, signatures, and seals. In several states, the documents falsely stated that the signers were "duly elected and qualified" electors. **Step 3 — File with National Archives and Congress**: The fraudulent certificates were transmitted to the National Archives, the President of the Senate (Pence), and other designated recipients — exactly mirroring the filing process for legitimate electoral votes. This created a formal paper trail of "competing" slates. **Step 4 — Use as Pretext on January 6**: The existence of two sets of electoral certificates from seven states was intended to create ambiguity that Pence could exploit. The [[Eastman Memo]] argued that Pence had the authority to either reject the legitimate electors in favor of the fake ones, or to declare the situation unresolvable and send it back to state legislatures — where Republican majorities could potentially appoint Trump electors. ### Central Coordination The scheme was not a series of independent state-level actions. [[Boris Epshteyn]], operating from within Trump's inner circle, coordinated across states. [[Rudy Giuliani]] made direct calls to state-level operatives. Chesebro's memos were distributed as the legal template. The timing was synchronized so that fake elector meetings in all seven states occurred on the same day as the legitimate elector meetings (December 14, 2020). ## The "Contingent Elector" Defense Several fake electors later claimed they believed they were serving as "contingent" or "alternate" electors — holding their position in reserve in case courts ruled in Trump's favor. This defense has several problems: Chesebro's own memos contemplated using the fake slates regardless of court outcomes — specifically as a mechanism to block January 6 certification. The fraudulent certificates did not include "contingent" language. And in several states, the fake electors gathered in secret, sometimes gaining access to state capitol buildings through subterfuge — behavior inconsistent with a transparent contingency plan. Some states' fake elector certificates did include qualifying language ("in the event of..."), while others presented themselves as the unconditional legitimate electors. This variation across states suggests inconsistent legal advice and differing levels of understanding among participants about what they were signing. ## Criminal Prosecutions The fake electors scheme generated the broadest criminal liability of any Stop the Steal component: **Georgia**: The fake electors were included in the Fulton County RICO indictment. Several pled guilty or cooperated. **Michigan**: The state Attorney General charged all 16 fake electors with forgery and election law violations. Multiple defendants accepted plea deals. **Arizona**: A state grand jury indicted [[Boris Epshteyn]], [[Rudy Giuliani]], [[Mark Meadows]], and others for their roles in coordinating the scheme. Several fake electors cooperated. **Nevada**: A state grand jury indicted six fake electors on forgery charges. **Wisconsin**: A civil settlement required the fake electors to acknowledge Biden's victory and agree not to serve as electors in the future. **Federal**: The federal indictment of Trump by Special Counsel [[Jack Smith]] included the fake electors scheme as a central component of the conspiracy to defraud the United States. ## Analytical Framework The fake electors scheme is the most important component of Stop the Steal that most people don't fully understand, because it reveals the operation as something far more sophisticated than a rally that got out of hand. The scheme was: **Pre-planned**: Designed weeks before January 6, with legal memos, coordinated logistics, and simultaneous execution across seven states. **Centrally directed**: Not grassroots or spontaneous, but coordinated from Trump's inner circle through Epshteyn, Giuliani, and Chesebro. **Legally structured**: Built on a constitutional theory (the Eastman Memo) and legal templates (Chesebro's memos) that gave the operation a veneer of legitimacy. **Multi-vector**: The fake electors were one component of a coordinated effort that included the Eastman Memo (constitutional theory), the DOJ weaponization attempt ([[Jeffrey Clark]]), the state pressure campaigns (Raffensperger call), and the January 6 rally/march. These were parallel operations designed to converge on January 6. The scheme also generated **distributed criminal liability**: by recruiting ordinary Republicans to sign fake certificates, the architects created legal jeopardy for dozens of people across seven states. The foot soldiers face prosecution while the architects negotiate plea deals — a pattern where the planners externalize legal risk onto their subordinates.