Matthew DePerno, a key orchestrator of efforts to assist former President Donald J. Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan and an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney general final yr, was arraigned on 4 felony prices on Tuesday, in keeping with paperwork launched by D.J. Hilson, the particular prosecutor dealing with the investigation.

The prices towards Mr. DePerno, which embody undue possession of a voting machine and a conspiracy to achieve unauthorized entry to a pc or laptop system, come after a nearly yearlong investigation in one of many battleground states that cemented the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president.

Former State Representative Daire Rendon was additionally charged with two crimes, together with a conspiracy to illegally receive a voting machine and false pretenses.

Both Mr. DePerno and Ms. Rendon had been arraigned remotely on Tuesday earlier than Chief Judge Jeffery Matis, in keeping with Richard Lynch, the courtroom administrator for Oakland County’s Sixth Circuit, and remained free on bond.

The prices were first reported by The Detroit News.

Mr. DePerno denied any wrongdoing and mentioned that his efforts “uncovered significant security flaws” in an announcement from his lawyer, Paul Stablein.

“He maintains his innocence and firmly believes that these charges are not based upon any actual truth and are motivated primarily by politics rather than evidence,” Mr. Stablein mentioned.

The legal inquiry in Michigan has largely been overshadowed by developments in Georgia, the place a grand jury is weighing charges against Mr. Trump for trying to subvert the election, however each are a part of the continuing reckoning over the conspiracy theories about election machines promoted by Mr. Trump and his allies.

The efforts to legitimize the falsehoods and conspiracy theories promoted broadly by Mr. Trump and his allies continued lengthy after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and after Mr. Biden took workplace. In Arizona, such efforts included the discredited election audit of Maricopa County led by Republicans within the state legislature.

In an announcement, Mr. Hilson mentioned, “Although our office made no recommendations to the grand jury as to whether an indictment should be issued or not, we support the grand jury’s decision and we will prosecute each of the cases as they have directed in the sole interests of justice.”

Dana Nessel, Michigan’s legal professional normal and a Democrat who went on to defeat Mr. DePerno within the November election, has not been concerned within the investigation because the appointment of a particular prosecutor in August final yr. In an announcement on Tuesday, Ms. Nessel mentioned that the allegations “caused undeniable harm to our democracy” and issued a warning for the longer term.

“The 2024 presidential election will soon be upon us. The lies espoused by attorneys involved in this matter, and those who worked in concert with them across the nation, wreaked havoc and sowed distrust within our democratic institutions and processes,” Ms. Nessel mentioned. “We hope for swift justice in the courts.”

The prices stemmed from a weird plot hatched by a bunch of conservative activists in early 2021 to choose aside voting machines in no less than three Michigan counties, in some circumstances taking them to resorts and Airbnb leases as they hunted for proof of election fraud.

In the weeks after the 2020 election, he drew widespread consideration and the admiration of Mr. Trump when he filed a lawsuit difficult the vote tallies in Antrim County, a rural space in Northern Michigan the place a minor clerical error fueled conspiracy theories.

He falsely claimed that voting machines there had been rigged, a premise that was rejected as “idiotic” by William P. Barr, an legal professional normal below Mr. Trump, and “demonstrably false” by Republicans within the Michigan Senate.

Mr. Hilson, the prosecutor in Muskegon County appointed as particular prosecutor, had initially delayed bringing prices, asking a state choose to find out whether or not it was towards state regulation to take possession of a voting machine with out the secretary of state’s permission or a courtroom order. A judge determined last month that doing so was towards the regulation, clearing the way in which for prices.

Democrats swept the governor’s race and different statewide contests final fall, along with flipping the total Legislature for the primary time in a long time. Mr. DePerno, who was endorsed by Mr. Trump, misplaced the legal professional normal’s race by eight proportion factors.

This yr, Mr. DePerno had been a front-runner to steer the Michigan Republican Party after its disappointing exhibiting in final yr’s midterm election, however he finished second to another election-denier: Kristina Karamo.

In his marketing campaign to steer the G.O.P. in Michigan, Mr. DePerno had vowed to pack the get together’s management ranks with Trump loyalists, shut primaries to simply Republicans and ratchet up the distribution of absentee poll purposes to get together members — regardless of what he mentioned was lingering opposition to voting by mail throughout the get together’s ranks.

His candidacy was supported by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief government who has spread conspiracy theories about election fraud and appeared at a fund-raising reception for Mr. DePerno in Lansing on the night time earlier than the chairmanship vote.

Mr. DePerno misplaced to Ms. Karamo after three rounds of balloting on the state get together conference, a course of that was slowed for a number of hours by way of paper ballots and hand counting.

Danny Hakim contributed reporting.