Legal Trouble: Two Individuals Charged with Signature Forgery in Florida and Kansas
TOPEKA, Kansas — Authorities in Florida and Kansas have accused two petition circulators of falsifying voter signatures to allow the No Labels party to get candidates on the ballot in Kansas and bring an abortion rights proposal to a vote in Florida.
Both Jamie Johnson, 47, and George Andrews III, 30, of Dade City, Florida, which is near Tampa, were being held in jail on a $150,000 bail each on Wednesday. Andrews in the Tampa region and Sarpy County, Nebraska, south of Omaha, were the locations where Johnson was being detained.
In Florida, each is facing 20 criminal counts; in Kansas, Andrews is facing 30 felony counts, and Johnson is facing 19.
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Although Andrews has been detained in Florida since February, Johnson was not located by officials in any state until she was apprehended in Nebraska a week ago. Attorney General Kris Kobach of Kansas made the announcement of Johnson’s arrest on Tuesday and stated that he intends to prosecute Johnson in Kansas. Her extradition hearing in Nebraska is set for July 1.
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According to Kobach’s office, Andrews and Johnson conspired to falsify at least 46 signatures on petitions seeking Kansas’ political party recognition for the centrist No Labels organization, enabling it to submit candidates for the November election.
According to Florida officials, Andrews and Johnson attempted to place the abortion rights legislation on the November ballot by submitting 133 erroneous petitions in several counties.
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It doesn’t seem that the two petition drives’ respective success rates were based on the signatures they provided. No Labels required more than 20,000 in Kansas, and at least 891,500 in Florida.
Nevertheless, Kobach stated that “it doesn’t matter how far you run” when it comes to election fraud.
Kobach added in a statement, “We will drag you back to Kansas and prosecute you.”
The Kansas instance concerns a former vendor’s subcontractor, according to No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy, who also stated on Wednesday that suppliers must train petition circulators and have a third party verify signatures.
Clancy stated in an email, “No Labels will fully cooperate with any inquiry.”
When contacted by phone on Wednesday, Andrews’ Florida public defender did not return a message requesting comment. Johnson’s public defender in Nebraska, Tom Strigenz, stated that she will fight extradition to both Florida and Kansas because she does not have an attorney in Kansas.
It was unclear to Stringenz if Johnson was in Nebraska to deliver petitions for ballot measures that were being considered there. He stated she is not connected to the state.