Former Township Clerk Back on the Hook for Felony Charges: Nessel Appeals Judge's Dismissal
By Kristine Christlieb, Editor, MFEI News & Commentary
October 12, 2026
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has appealed a judge's dismissal of all felony charges against former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott, a step prosecutors rarely take.
Nessel filed the appeal on July 24 in the Michigan Court of Appeals, challenging Hillsdale County Circuit Judge Sara Lisznyai's April 30, 2026, ruling.
Lisznyai dismissed the charges and found the lower court both abused its discretion and made an "error of law" when it sent Scott's case to trial.
Prosecutors seldom appeal. National data are limited, but a 2018 peer-reviewed study by law professors Nancy King and Michael Heise found such appeals are rare.
The ruling threw out every felony count and found both an abuse of discretion and an error of law. Nessel is appealing anyway.
Scott believed those instructions violated the law, instructions which have since become rulesets with the force of law, a subject MFEI News & Commentary has examined in a past articlesand investigative reports.
Nessel also said in the release: "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. Those who engage in such reckless conduct must be held accountable for their actions."
Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd, the Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general, said in a written statement to MFEI News & Commentary:
"This is another example of Dana Nessel putting partisan lawfare ahead of the facts and evidence. Just like the electors case, a judge threw this out because it lacked merit. As Attorney General, I will put fair law ahead of lawfare and always base my decisions on facts and evidence."
Eli Savit, the Democrat candidate for attorney general, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Patrice Johnson, Michigan Fair Elections Institute Co-Founder and Chair, took a different view of Nessel's motives. "She is using the Scott case to intimidate and control Michigan clerks," Johnson said in a telephone interview. "She's sending a message: 'If you don't comply with our rules, this could happen to you.'"
"Nessel's appeal is an only slightly more civilized version of putting an enemy's head on a spike," Johnson said. "Her actions are about psychological deterrence and public humiliation."
If Nessel's appeal succeeds — and King and Heise found prosecutors nationally win about 40 percent of the appeals they file — Scott will go to trial on four felonies and a misdemeanor. The most serious felony carries up to seven years in prison; the other four carry up to five years each. The charges are:
• Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, a seven-year felony
• Computers – Unauthorized Access, a five-year felony
• Conspiracy to Commit the Offense of Computers – Unauthorized Access, a five-year
felony
• Misconduct in Office, a five-year felony
• Disobeying a Lawful Instruction or Order of the Secretary of State as Chief Election
Officer, a 90-day misdemeanor
What Did Scott Do?
In March 2021, Scott was a brand-new township clerk running her first election in regard to a school millage. She had been elected in November 2020 and taken office that December.
As a new clerk, she consulted veteran Hillsdale County Clerk Marney Kast about the logic and accuracy testing of the township's tabulators. "It seemed to me, statistically, there weren't enough test ballots to perform the test," Scott told MFEI News & Commentary in a phone interview. She believed the test required 21 ballots, but she was given only seven.
Scott said her early questions about the tabulators were brushed off. According to Scott, Kast told her, "Oh Stephanie, you and your math."
Already concerned about the tabulators' accuracy, Scott then received instructions to turn over her township's tabulators for routine maintenance. She refused, saying she did not trust the machines and wanted to preserve their data.
She relied on federal statute 52 U.S.C. § 20701 and state statute MCL Section 168.811 both of which require election officials to keep all records of an election for 22 months. Brater maintained the maintenance did not destroy election data and did not violate the law because the paper ballots were preserved. The law says to keep all records and papers for 22 months. All records . . . not just the ballots," Scott said.
Acting as township clerk, Scott hired legal counsel and gave attorney Stefanie Lambert a thumb drive containing the township's electronic poll book information. Lambert passed the drive to a computer forensics expert for examination. Lambert later faced criminal charges of her own.
On Oct. 15, 2021, Brater ordered Scott to correct what he called her false claims and warned her of consequences. On Oct. 25, Director Brater stripped Scott of her election duties.
In May 2024, Nessel filed felony charges against Scott.
By January 22, 2025, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced her 2026 gubernatorial candidacy. Six weeks later, on March 5–6, 2025 — more than eight months past the legally required rule announcement deadline of July 1, 2024, — Benson had begun advancing three rule sets — 40 separate rules — governing the conduct of Michigan elections. Rule Set 2025-14 requires clerks to delete electronic poll book data seven days after certification. Nessel's charges against Scott centered on electronic poll book data.
"There's a direct line between Stephanie Scott's refusal to delete her electronic poll book and Benson's new rule sets," Johnson said. "When Stephanie stood up and refused to comply, Benson appears to have decided to take action to keep clerks in line."
The Process Is the Punishment
For more than five years, Scott has lived under the threat of action from the Bureau of Elections. She says she owes her attorney thousands of dollars, and the appeal has only just begun.
Civil and criminal appeals are notorious for dragging on, sometimes for years, and can bankrupt a defendant like Scott.
Then there is the constant psychological weight of criminal charges and possible prison time. People tend to assume the greatest harm in litigation comes from losing. But a 2020 Spanish study of 360 litigants by M. Clemente and D. Padilla-Racero found that those with the longest exposure to litigation reported the worst health.
Court delays, mounting costs and legal tactics can wear people down long before a case ends, bringing anxiety, insomnia, bankruptcy, and a loss of trust in institutions.
Scott's supporters have been helping her through a GiveSendGo account.
"A lot of people don't realize my case has been appealed and that I now have a new round of legal expenses. This is a situation I never dreamed I would have to face. I was just trying to follow the law and protect the voters in my township," Scott said.
Nessel's Next Move
If Nessel loses the appeal, she will likely ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review the case. If she wins, Scott will stand trial in Hillsdale County and face the possibility of prison.
"Nessel wants to make Stephanie Scott the sacrificial lamb," Johnson said. "A conviction would validate the very 'instructions' Benson later wrote into a regulatory rule. It is hard to overstate what is at stake in this case."
MFEI News & Commentary is published by Michigan Fair Elections Institute.
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