The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld criminal charges against two right-wing operatives accused of orchestrating a voter suppression robocall campaign targeting Black voters in Detroit during the 2020 election.
The court affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl’s motion to quash the charges on Friday, finding sufficient evidence that their robocall was intentionally false, related to voting procedures, and designed to deter voter participation.
“Voter intimidation infringes upon the fundamental right to vote,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “I am grateful the Court of Appeals saw this conduct for what it was — a gross misrepresentation of voting procedures meant to scare voters from participating in our elections. We look forward to continuing with the criminal case and bringing this matter to trial.”
Burkman and Wohl, notorious for their history of right-wing misinformation campaigns, were charged in October 2020 for allegedly orchestrating robocalls aimed at dissuading Detroit residents from voting by mail. The calls falsely claimed that voting by mail would allow personal information to be used by police to track individuals with outstanding warrants, by credit card companies to collect debts, and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to enforce mandatory vaccinations.
The calls, sent to nearly 12,000 residents in Detroit with a 313 area code, named Burkman and Wohl as the creators of the message and closed with a warning: “Don’t be finessed into giving your private information to the man. Stay safe and beware of vote by mail.”
The Michigan Supreme Court had previously ruled that the state’s voter intimidation law applies to intentionally false speech about voting requirements or procedures if it is made with the intent to deter or influence voters. On remand, the Court of Appeals determined that the evidence presented during the preliminary examination satisfied these criteria, upholding the charges.
“There can be no reasonable dispute that voting by mail is a voting procedure,” Judge Anica Letica, writing for the majority, concluded. “That is, voting by mail is ‘a particular way of accomplishing’ voting, which fits the definition of ‘procedure.’ The robocall was related to the procedure because it alleged that, if a voter used the voting procedure identified, certain negative events ‘will’ occur. Those events involved a creation of a database that ‘will be’ accessed by police and credit card companies to track down warrants and debts.”
Burkman, 57, of Arlington, Va., and Wohl, 25, of Los Angeles, Calif., face multiple felony charges, each of which carry a maximum penalty of five to seven years in prison. The charges include one count of election law – bribing or intimidating voters, one count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, one count of using a computer to intimidate voters, and one count of using a computer to commit conspiracy.
This is not the first legal trouble for the duo. Earlier this year, they agreed to pay up to $1.25 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. That case also involved allegations of voter suppression through similar robocalls targeting Black voters in Michigan, New York, and Ohio.
The criminal case against Burkman and Wohl is expected to proceed to trial.
