Officials in Florida and Kansas are accusing two petition distributors of forging voter signatures during a campaign that put an abortion rights measure on the ballot in Florida and allowed the No Labels Party to put a candidate on the Kansas ballot.
Jamie Johnson, 47, and George Andrews III, 30, both of Dade City, Florida, were being held in Tampa-area jails Wednesday on $150,000 bail each. Johnson is being held in Sarpy County, Nebraska, south of Omaha, and Andrews is being held in the Tampa area.
“Election interference” throws battleground state politics into chaos
Both men are facing 20 felony charges in Florida, while Andrews faces 30 felony charges and Johnson faces 19 felony charges in Kansas.
Andrews has been in custody in Florida since February, but authorities in both states were unable to locate Johnson until his arrest in Nebraska a week ago. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced Johnson’s arrest on Tuesday and said he plans to bring him to Kansas to be charged. Johnson is scheduled to have an extradition hearing in Nebraska on July 1.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach participates in a memorial for fallen police officers at the state Capitol in Topeka, Kansas, on May 3, 2024. Kobach’s office has accused two Florida residents of forging signatures on a petition to allow the No Labels Party to place its candidates on the ballot, and the pair are accused of doing the same during an effort to put an abortion rights measure on the ballot in Florida. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kobach’s office said Andrews and Johnson worked together to forge at least 46 signatures on petitions to get the centrist No Labels group recognized as a political party in Kansas so it could field candidates in the November election.
Florida officials said Andrews and Johnson filed a total of 133 invalid petitions in multiple counties in their effort to put an abortion rights measure on the November ballot.
Neither petition seemed to rely on the number of signatures the two submitted: In Kansas, No Labels needed more than 20,000 signatures, while in Florida it needed at least 891,500.
Still, Kobach said, when it comes to election fraud, “it doesn’t matter how far you run.”
“We will bring you back to Kansas and prosecute you,” Judge Kobach said in a statement.
Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels, said Wednesday that the Kansas case involves a subcontractor of a former vendor, and that the vendor has an obligation to provide training to those circulating the petition and have a third party verify signatures.
“The label does not intend to cooperate fully with any investigation,” Clancy said in an emailed statement.
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The public defender representing Andrews in Florida did not respond to a phone message seeking comment Wednesday. Tom Strigentz, Johnson’s public defender in Nebraska, said he will fight extradition to both Florida and Kansas because she does not have an attorney in Kansas.
Stringentz declined to say whether Johnson was visiting Nebraska to circulate petitions for a proposed ballot measure there, and said he has no ties to the state.
