Samuel Moorhead

Role

Samuel Moorhead — Second Vice Chair, Gila County Republican Party (2020).

The Arizona elector certificate

Samuel Moorhead was one of 11 Arizona Republicans who met at Arizona Republican Party headquarters in Phoenix on December 14, 2020 and signed a document declaring themselves "the duly elected and qualified Electors" for President and Vice President from Arizona for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. The claim was false: Arizona's actual, certified electoral votes -- reflecting Joe Biden's certified win in the state -- were cast by Arizona's Biden-Harris electors on the same day. The Arizona document contained no conditional or contingency language.

Legal proceedings

On April 24, 2024, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Samuel Moorhead on nine felony counts (fraudulent schemes and artifices, forgery, and conspiracy) for signing the December 14, 2020 document. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers sent the indictment back to the grand jury after finding prosecutors had not given the grand jury the full text of the governing 1887 Electoral Count Act provision the defense relied on. On August 7, 2026, at the request of the Arizona Attorney General's office, Myers dismissed the indictment without prejudice; the office retains the option to seek a new indictment. Samuel Moorhead has not been convicted of any charge arising from this conduct.

On November 9, 2025, President Trump issued Samuel Moorhead a federal pardon covering offenses related to the 2020 election. Arizona officials stated the pardon has no legal effect on the separate Arizona state charges, which are a matter of state, not federal, law.

Connection to the incident

See 2020 Fake Elector Scheme for the full national context: the coordinated multi-state effort to submit competing Trump elector certificates after the 2020 election, and their intended use during the January 6, 2021 congressional electoral count.