Johnson County sheriff pauses controversial election investigation a month before primary
Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden said Monday his controversial years-long elections investigation is no longer active.
The announcement came as Hayden fights for his political life in a competitive Republican primary against Doug Bedford, a former undersheriff. GOP voters will decide on Aug. 6 whether to stick with Hayden or nominate another candidate for the November election.
“As with some cases, we must put this one on the shelf and take a pause,” Hayden said in a press release on Monday, which said he was aiming at “clearing up some misconceptions” after reports that his office “was chasing an investigation that was a conspiracy theory.”
The sheriff’s investigation has produced no criminal charges. False conspiracy theories surrounding the integrity of Johnson County’s elections have taken root, fueled in part by Hayden’s investigation, which he has promoted repeatedly in front of conservative audiences.
Johnson County Commission Chairman Mike Kelly told The Star on Monday that he believes Hayden’s announcement is “long overdue.”
“As we’ve stated and known for years, elections in Johnson County are safe, secure and accurate and there’s never been any indication otherwise, other than this alleged investigation without basis and without merit,” Kelly said. “And so while I’m glad to see it’s put on pause now, I’m disappointed at the damage done to the trust in our elections office and to local government as a whole based on these salacious allegations or this sham investigation.”
The sheriff has kept a tight lid on details of the investigation over the last few years, despite regularly discussing the probe at conservative events. But Hayden’s investigation appears centered on Konnech, an election software company that has called the investigation “baseless.”
Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $5 million to Konnech CEO Eugene Yu, who sued over civil rights violations after he was arrested there in 2022 on accusations that he illegally stored poll worker data in China. The case was dropped a few weeks later, with the district attorney citing “potential bias” in the investigation.
Johnson County had used Konnech’s software to help manage election workers; the program had nothing to do with voting or voting information. The county stopped using the software in 2022.
Konnech earlier this year warned Hayden that he should be careful about continuing to make public statements about the company, saying doing so could result in “serious consequences.”
Hayden said Monday that the investigation stemmed from resident concerns about election integrity in 2021. He said his office takes “all allegations of crimes seriously and investigate them no matter how controversial it is.”
Aug. 6 election
His long-running investigation has been a main talking point leading up to next month’s primary.
At a campaign event in Overland Park on Monday, Bedford told The Star that the timing of Hayden’s announcement was “surprising, you know, with the primary being so close.”
He criticized Hayden over “his narrative appear(ing) to change so many times” regarding what action he was taking during the election probe, and for choosing whether to publicly make statements about the investigation “depending on the forum that he was at.”
“I thought it should either be all or nothing. You should either say, ‘I’m not going to say a word or I’ll disclose what’s taking place,’” Bedford said.
If he were to be elected, Bedford said he would examine whether there is any evidence and present his findings to the district attorney’s office.
“Whatever the case may be, say ‘this is what we have. Is there any evidence here?’ And then either pursue and continue with the investigation or close it completely,” he said.
Hayden, who has spent roughly three decades in the sheriff’s office and previously served as a county commissioner, is seeking a third term as sheriff. He won a competitive Republican primary in 2016, to then run unopposed in the November election and again unopposed in 2020.
The winner of the August primary will compete against the one Democratic challenger in the race, Prairie Village Police Chief Byron Roberson.
Search warrant controversy
The race heated up in April after Hayden accused Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman and other officials of rushing to destroy old ballots from several past elections, suggesting they were attempting to eliminate evidence just as the sheriff was on the verge of obtaining a search warrant for them.
Johnson County, at Hayden’s request, had previously held off on complying with a state law that mandates the regular destruction of old ballots. County officials asked the sheriff in late November whether he had an issue with the ballots being shredded, and later whether he planned to obtain a warrant.
When Hayden did not obtain a court order to preserve the records, officials a few months later destroyed them. County officials said they did so as they were receiving reminders from the Kansas secretary of state to comply with the law.
Hayden, speaking at a Johnson County GOP event this spring, falsely said he had a “search warrant in hand” when the ballots were destroyed. He later acknowledged at an event he did not have a valid warrant signed by a judge.
Melody Webb, a spokeswoman with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, previously said the office is “unaware of any search warrant being submitted to a judge for review.”
In Hayden’s announcement on Monday, the sheriff claimed he had presented an affidavit for a search warrant to the district attorney’s office for review. He said more information was requested, but “the election ballots were destroyed, and we could not obtain further information.”
Law enforcement officials can prepare a search warrant application, but warrants must be approved by judges. It is standard practice in Johnson County for the district attorney’s office to review all search warrant applications before they are submitted to a judge.
Hayden’s announcement also comes during a heated budget season, as the Johnson County Board of Commissioners has held tense debates in recent weeks on how to address the sheriff’s budget.
Hayden argued that residents have been “misled” about his budget, detailing that his office is feeling financial strain due to contractual increases and staffing needs, including maintaining competitive salaries. But he said his office works hard to be “as cost-effective as possible” and “good stewards” of taxpayer dollars.
Some commissioners have taken a harder look at Hayden’s budget this summer, including since the board late last year approved using $5 million in reserves to purchase body cameras and other equipment. Some on the commission pushed back since the request for added dollars came outside of the regular budget process, but ultimately decided the new equipment was needed.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 5:49 PM.
