Two men who pleaded no contest to orchestrating political robocalls using false claims to suppress the vote in Detroit during the 2020 general election were formally sentenced Monday to one year of probation.
Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman fought the charges up to the Michigan Supreme Court, arguing the state’s voter intimidation law is too broad and violates First Amendment rights. Once they lost, they agreed to a plea deal that included light sentences.
“The defendants’ conduct used every racist dog whistle – fear of incarceration, fear of the government and fear of one’s benefits being taken away – to steal the most fundamental right that we often take for granted: the right to vote,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement released by her office. “While on probation, if they engage in these types of criminal behaviors, they will be held to account here in Michigan.”
The two Virginia men, operating as a non-existent organization called Project 1519 Project, orchestrated robocalls with misleading information to nearly 12,000 Detroit phone numbers. The calls included misinformation on absentee voting and falsely claimed authorities would use the information for debt collection, executing warrants and forcing people to get COVID-19 vaccines.
The two far-right operatives have been convicted of similar election tampering charges in other states.
