The eleven were designated as Arizona’s Republican Electors and met in the state capital of Phoenix on December 14, 2020. There they signed a declaration that they were duly appointed and qualified and claimed that Donald Trump won the presidential election in the state. The document was sent to Congress and the National Archives, where they chose to ignore it.
The truth was that Joe Biden won the state with 49.36 percent of the vote, against 49.06 percent for Trump. Just over one and a half percent went to other candidates. This was the second-evenest state result – just over 10,000 out of a total of 3.39 million votes separated the two rivals – and secured Biden eleven electoral votes.
The eleven who are now indicted were behind one of the eight lawsuits that challenged the election results. Shortly after the lawsuit was dismissed, they signed the false affidavit.
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A further seven people are covered by the grand jury’s indictment, but their names have not yet been made public. A representative for Rudy Giuliani confirms that the former New York mayor, who has also been a lawyer for Trump, is among the seven. The state attorney general says the names will be released as the indictment is served on them.
One of the defendants is described as chief of staff, a role Mark Meadows held at the time in question. His staff has not yet responded to requests for comment on the matter.
Arizona is the fourth state to prosecute so-called fraudulent voters after attempts to undermine the election results just four years ago.
