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John Burkman (left) and Jacob Wohl,
Two Virginia men entered a no-contest plea Friday to orchestrating robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote of predominantly Black voters in Detroit during the 2020 general election in which President Donald Trump squared off against Joe Biden. The calls discouraged use of absentee ballots.
The plea means the defendants accept the criminal conviction but avoid pleading or admitting guilt.
John Burkman, 59, of Arlington, Va., and Jacob Wohl, 27, of Fairfax, Va., face sentencing on Dec. 1 in Wayne County Circuit Court on charges including: Bribing/intimidating voters; conspiracy to commit an election law violation; and using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, according to the Michigan Attorney General's Office.
The case had been tied up in a series of appeals over the years.
“After five years, I’m glad this case has finally reached a resolution,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “Deceptive and racially targeted suppression schemes will not be tolerated in Michigan.”
The calls tried to discourage Detroit residents from mailing absentee ballots. Republicans feared more Democrats would vote if they could take advantage of mail-in ballots, which had become extremely popular in 2020 because of Covid.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Burkman and Wohl attempted to discourage Black voters across the country, including in Detroit, from voting by creating and funding robocalls in late August 2020. They targeted nearly 12,000 residents with phone numbers registered to an address with a Detroit ZIP code.
The calls promoted falsehoods, including:
►Voting by mail would place voters’ personal information in a public database that could be used by police departments to track down individuals with outstanding warrants.
►Voting by mail would place voters’ personal information in a public database that could be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts.
►The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were attempting to use vote-by-mail records to track individuals for mandatory vaccines.
The robocall called Burkman and Wohl and claimed they were founders of a civil rights organization called “Project 1599.”
The call closed with a message urging the predominantly Black recipients not to be “finessed into giving your private information to the man. Stay safe and beware of vote by mail.”
The Attorney General has called the robocall an egregious example of voter suppression.
