DETROIT (WXYZ) — Two conservative activists and conspiracy theorists pleaded no contest to voter intimidation charges in Michigan on Friday.
Watch below: Conservative activists accused of voter intimidation appear in Detroit courtroom in 2020
Jacob Wohl, 27, from Fairfax, Virginia and Jack Burkman, 59, of Arlington, Virginia, plead no contest to four charges. They are:
- One count of election law – bribing/intimidating voters, a 5-year felony;
- One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a 5-year felony;
- One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a 7-year felony; and
- Using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a 7-year felony.
Attorney General Dana Nessel says the men orchestrated robocalls to thousands of Detroiters with false messages made to deter residents from voting by mail. Those calls were made in late August of 2020 and went out to 12,000 residents with phone numbers registered to an address with a Detroit zip code.
“After five years, I’m glad this case has finally reached a resolution,” Nessel said in a statement on Friday. “Deceptive and racially targeted suppression schemes will not be tolerated in Michigan. My office will continue to pursue and prosecute voter intimidation, no matter how long it takes, to ensure that Michiganders can exercise their right to vote free from fear and deception.”
Wohl and Burkman have been called right-wing operatives with "Project 1599." State officials say the group is behind the calls.
The men have previously faced charges in other states, and were ordered to pay $1.25 million in fines in New York and were sentenced to register people to vote in Ohio.
According to the AG's office, the calls promoted falsehoods including:
- Voting by mail would pub voters' information in a public database that could be used by police to track people with outstanding warrants
- Voting by mail would pub voters' information in a public database that would be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts
- The DCD were attempting to utilize vote by mail records to track people for mandatory vaccines
Both the Michigan Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court upheld the charges against the men.
It’s believed around 85,000 robocalls were made nationally, though an exact breakdown of the numbers of calls made to each city or state is not available.
Both men will be sentenced on Dec. 1.
