A former township clerk and her attorney will face charges in Michigan over allegations of a voter data breach related to the 2020 election, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday.
Former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and her private attorney, Stefanie Lambert, allowed "an unauthorized computer examiner access to voter data, including non-public voter information, concerning the 2020 General Election," Nessel's office alleged in a news release.
Scott faces six charges — five felonies and a misdemeanor — including concealing or withholding a voting machine and using a computer to commit a crime. Lambert faces three felony charges, including using a computer to commit a crime. It is unclear how they pleaded.
Scott, 52, and Lambert, 42, have touted conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan.
"Ensuring election security and integrity stands as the cornerstone of our democracy,” Nessel said in the statement.
“When elected officials and their proxies use their positions to promote baseless conspiracies, show blatant disregard for voter privacy, and break the law in the process, it undermines the very essence of the democratic process," she continued. "Those who engage in such reckless conduct must be held accountable for their actions.”
Lambert’s attorney, Daniel Hartman, said in a statement to The Associated Press that she did not violate the law and that she “remains steadfast in her efforts to bring transparency to the people’s election data, processes and procedures.” Lambert did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
Lambert is accused of illegally transmitting data from the township's "Electronic Poll Book concerning the 2020 General Election under the direction of Scott."
Scott is alleged to have "intentionally disregarded numerous instructions" to hand over a voting tabulator to an "authorized vendor for maintenance and testing," the news release said. Michigan State Police ended up seizing the tabulator as part of a search warrant.
Both Lambert and Scott have histories of election denialism. Lambert tried to sue to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 Michigan election win. Scott, too, has touted election-related conspiracy theories, and in 2021, she was barred from running the township's local election after the Michigan Bureau of Elections said she failed to take precautions to ensure voting security. She was eventually voted out of office in a recall election last year.
Lambert was arrested in March after a sanctions hearing regarding allegations she spread confidential emails from Dominion Voting Systems.
Reacting to the charges against Scott and Lambert, Adams Township Clerk Suzy Roberts, who ran against Scott in the recall effort, said she is “pleased” that the state police pursued an investigation that led to the charges against Scott.
“Stephanie Scott put Adams Township in the headlines on her beliefs, not the facts,” Roberts said in a statement. “Releasing our personal information was an enormous breach of trust to her constituents.”
Scott and Lambert previously spoke to NBC News in an interview last year ahead of a recall election after four conservative grandmothers in Adams Township led an effort to oust Scott from her role amid concerns of her involvement in the voter data breach.
In the interview, Scott maintained she was just “asking questions” about the election.
“All I was doing was trying to take on this clerk position, run fair elections, make sure ... the data was accurate, and I was doing my job,” Scott told NBC News.
