Former Sheriff Hayden investigated Johnson County’s top election official, records show
Former Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden investigated Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman over allegations of voter intimidation, according to records obtained by The Star.
The case was the only one Hayden, a Republican, ever sent to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe during his years-long investigation into election fraud. The inquiry never found any election fraud but helped stoke baseless conspiracy theories that the county’s elections were somehow tainted.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, now led by Democrat Byron Roberson, and Howe, a Republican, both confirmed in separate statements last week that Hayden had submitted only one election-related case. Roberson announced last week that he had formally closed the election inquiry.
But law enforcement documents provided to The Star in response to a records request now reveal Sherman was the subject of the intimidation investigation. The documents illustrate the extraordinary situation that played out in Johnson County in 2022 as the then-sheriff investigated the county’s top elections official.
Howe declined to prosecute Sherman, finding no evidence of a crime.
In a brief phone call on Tuesday, Sherman declined to comment. Hayden didn’t respond to a call seeking comment.
Despite not leading to any criminal charges, Hayden’s overall election fraud investigation cost taxpayers approximately $88,000, Roberson said. Hayden lost the Republican primary in August, in large part because of anger over the inquiry.
The investigation consumed about 880 hours of work time. No warrants were ever issued, but the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office allocated about $50,000 from its budget for software related to the inquiry.
The alleged voter intimidation centered on an incident that occurred in July 2022, days before polls opened in Johnson County for the August primary, which included a high-profile ballot question on abortion rights. A standard offense report previously released to The Star indicated the incident happened at a government building and that the victim was Nicole Atwood, a 37-year-old woman from Roeland Park.
Atwood gained national attention in 2020 for emotional testimony to the Johnson County Commission arguing she was discriminated against for ignoring county mask mandates. Atwood has previously hung up on a call and not responded to voicemails and text messages.
The records provided on Tuesday include a full narrative report of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigation. While the victim’s name is redacted in the newly-provided documents, the case number matches the partial report previously provided to The Star.
In the narrative, Det. Kevin Cronister wrote that the alleged victim in an email alleged that during a July 13, 2022, election worker training, Sherman was disregarding her “beliefs as an American voter and election worker” because Sherman had told her she needed to vote in advance or by mail to be a poll worker on Election Day. The alleged victim said she only believed in voting in-person on Election Day.
“Having been required by Fred Sherman to choose between my voting rights and his policy, I felt stripped of my rights,” the alleged victim said, according to Cronister’s narrative report.
DA declined to charge
In September 2022, Cronister interviewed Sherman at the Johnson County Legal Department. The report noted he was accompanied by legal counsel.
Sherman confirmed that his policy was that election workers could not leave their site on Election Day, which therefore required them to vote in advance or by mail. In response to a question by Sherman’s counsel, he explained that it’s important for the workers to be on-site all day to help ensure the chain of custody of election equipment and ballots.
Asked about the alleged victim’s demeanor during their conversation, Sherman replied “harsh.” He said he attempted to be diplomatic.
“Her general demeanor throughout the entire training process was very harsh and argumentative,” Sherman said, according to Cronister’s report.
In his summary report, Cronister wrote that the alleged victim stated she felt coerced by Sherman because she was being threatened with losing her position as an election worker if she exercised her right to vote in-person on Election Day.
In November 2022, Cronister submitted the case to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of two charges – obstructing someone from voting and voter intimidation.
“The case was submitted to my office as potentially a crime of election interference,” Howe said in a statement last week. “We declined to file charges and noted that there was no evidence of a crime.”
