HILLSDALE, Michigan — About 40 people crammed into a courtroom in Hillsdale Monday to show support for lawyer Stefanie Lambert and former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott, who were arraigned on charges they mishandled voter data as they advanced dubious claims of 2020 election fraud.

Members of the crowd prayed for Scott before the hearing in the lobby outside the courtroom and afterward voiced unproven theories of something being wrong with election equipment that have lingered in the battleground state of Michigan since Republican then-President Donald Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020.

Lance Lashaway, a Hillsdale County Republican, said he attended on Monday "to watch our court system run more people through the wringer."

"That's exactly what's going on here," Lashaway contended.

Lambert, who was previously involved in an unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn Biden's 51%-48% victory in Michigan's 2020 presidential election, and Scott, a Republican who is now campaigning to be Hillsdale County's clerk, pleaded not guilty on Monday.

Hillsdale County's 2B District Court Judge Megan Stiverson released them on their own recognizance.

Lambert and Scott are two of about 20 people who've been charged with crimes in Michigan tied to the Trump campaign's efforts to reverse the former president's loss to Biden or the push to investigate claims of election fraud. This is the second county where Lambert has been charged by state Attorney General Dana Nessel's office with crimes related to allegedly trying to get vote data or equipment connected with the 2020 presidential election in Michigan.

Biden's victory has been upheld by a series of court decisions, bipartisan canvassing boards and an investigation by a Republican-led state Senate committee.

"Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan," the Senate committee's report concluded in 2021 of the 2020 presidential election.

The charges and Lambert's defense

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