A Michigan judge dismissed Thursday felony charges against a former township clerk and a prominent lawyer accused of allowing a breach of sensitive voter data.
In May 2024, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office first accused lawyer Stefanie Lambert and former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott of providing access to voters’ personal information to an analyst who was investigating unproven claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
However, Hillsdale County Circuit Court Judge Sara Lisznyai ruled the voter records in question, which included people’s birth dates and driver’s license numbers, were not required to be kept confidential under state election law.
The law said the information was merely exempt from disclosure under the state’s open records policy, the judge said.
“No additional requirement for nondisclosure or confidentiality is stated and none is found,” Lisznyai wrote in an eight-page ruling Thursday afternoon.
The decision knocked down all four of the felony charges against Scott, according to her attorney, and three felony charges against Lambert. The most serious of the allegations was a count of using a computer to commit a crime, which would carry a penalty of up to seven years behind bars.
Nessel’s office had accused Lambert and Scott of working together to send data from the Adams Township electronic poll book to out-of-state analyst Ben Cotton. Nessel, a Democrat, previously labeled the actions of Lambert and Scott a “deliberate violation of voter privacy to push a false agenda and spew misinformation.”
However, David Kallman, senior partner at Kallman Legal Group, which represented Scott, said the Thursday ruling marked “a complete vindication for our client.”
“Our client is a local public official trying to carry out her lawful duties and the Attorney General weaponized criminal statutes against her in a manner never used in Michigan’s history,” Kallman added. “As a result, she was subjected to years of unwarranted legal jeopardy.
“Today’s decision restores her reputation and reaffirms the rule of law.”
Voters recalled Scott from her position as township clerk in 2023. A misdemeanor charge of disobeying a lawful instruction or order of the Secretary of State is still pending against Scott.
As for Lambert, she became a prominent figure in the push to challenge election results after Republican Donald Trump falsely claimed that Michigan’s 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
Lambert was involved in an unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn Michigan’s 2020 outcome, and she’s facing separate charges in Oakland County because of allegations she helped orchestrate a plot to obtain and examine tabulators used in Michigan.
She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
A spokesman for Nessel’s office didn’t respond to a message seeking comment Thursday night.
In December, Hillsdale County District Court Judge Megan Stiverson decided state prosecutors had presented enough evidence to show probable cause for most of the felony charges brought against Lambert and Scott, advancing the allegations to the circuit court.
But Lisznyai said the district court had made “an error of law” in finding that there was a confidentiality requirement.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Judge tosses charges tied to alleged Michigan voter data breach
Reporting by Craig Mauger, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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