Johnson County election fraud investigation raises alarm among local leaders, civic groups
A newly revealed Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigation into claims of election fraud is raising alarms with other local political leaders, elections officials and civic organizations who warn it is an extension of partisan Republican efforts to cast doubt on election results nationwide.
Sheriff Calvin Hayden confirmed publicly for the first time this week that his office has an ongoing investigation into election fraud allegations and he suggested its findings over the past six months raise questions about voting integrity in Johnson County, despite local elections officials’ insistence that recent races were decided fairly and accurately.
It is unclear how seriously the sheriff’s office is treating the investigation and Hayden, who has repeatedly delved into partisan politics in recent years, declined to discuss specifics about his concerns while the investigation continues.
But elections officials and other local leaders decried any insinuation that election fraud may have occurred in Johnson County as “baseless attacks” that are part of a broader campaign by partisan actors to sow doubts about election results in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s re-election loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.
“I think it’s concerning that this is undermining public confidence in our electoral process,” County Commissioner Becky Fast said in a phone interview. “We in the county implement numerous safeguards to protect the vote and we follow federal and state law.”
Even the leadership of the local Republican party said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the 2020 and 2021 local elections were secure and that they have not seen any credible evidence of election fraud.
“Yes, there have been administrative errors that have been brought to light; however, those errors would not have impacted the results of the elections,” the party said in a statement signed by Chair Marisel Walston, Vice Chair Dustin Morris and Secretary Laurel Stiffler. “There are aspects of the process that need to be addressed and we are closely following and advocating for improvements in the overall process ... However, as of this date, we have not seen any evidence of fraud and believe the allegations without proof are not in the best interest of our county.”
The local investigation has surfaced as Republicans continue to push unsuccessful legal and political efforts nationwide to review and potentially reverse the 2020 election results, including in the Kansas legislature, where election denialists were invited to present their ideas this year even as Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab dismissed the allegations out of hand.
None of those efforts have produced any evidence of widespread election fraud and local elections officials categorically denied that any investigation into Johnson County results would reveal any fraud here.
“Every ballot is accounted for, and returns are reconciled with the poll books and applications for advance ballots,” Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said in a statement. “Baseless attacks aimed at Johnson County’s elections process are consistent with a concerted nationwide effort to push agendas and narratives to erode public confidence in elections.”
The League of Women Voters lauded Sherman and his predecessor Connie Schmidt for their efforts to maintain election security and said the group has “full confidence” in the integrity of local races, despite the sheriff’s claims.
“Johnson County voters are fortunate that the hardworking, well-trained and dedicated employees of the Johnson County Election Office are committed to providing safe, fair and accessible elections,” the group said in a statement Tuesday. “Johnson County’s election efforts are frequently cited nationally as the gold standard of how elections should work.”
An ongoing investigation
The lone Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigator assigned to the case has spoken with local elections officials but has not requested any information, documents or interviews from the state elections offices, according to Hayden and elections officials.
The deputy — who specializes in cyber investigations and maintains a full caseload beyond the election investigation — has not issued subpoenas or warrants in connection with the probe, but is “still looking into it,” potentially in connection with examining the inner workings of voting machines used in Johnson County, Hayden said.
“We’re finding that there’s a lot of numbers that don’t make sense and we’re having a hard time getting information from our own election source,” Hayden said. “We’ve got a lot of information and we’ve looked into it and there’s a lot of things that don’t add up to a regular guy like me.
“It’s still a pending investigation, but I can tell you we have found some things and some numbers; part of them are a mathematical impossibility.”
Some of the information fueling the investigation has come from Thad Snider, a Johnson County resident who raised concerns about supposed ballot custody issues and ballot drop box security to state lawmakers in early February but did not submit any evidence of actual election fraud.
Snider and others have posited that there was such a large increase in Democratic votes in Johnson County in the 2020 election that they could not all be legitimate, but the Johnson County Republican Party dismissed that notion in its lengthy statement Tuesday.
“We disagree because we know that new Democratic registration greatly outpaced new Republican registrations in the two year span of 2018-2020,” the JCRP statement read. “During that time, Democrats spent millions of dollars nationally and locally to register moderate and swing voters who were upset with former President Trump. JCRP fielded numerous calls and emails from these very same voters that decided to change their registration.”
Snider is not directly involved in the sheriff’s office investigation but appeared alongside Hayden at a local GOP group’s event Monday night where they both presented updates on their investigations into fraud claims.
It is the sheriff’s prerogative to open investigations, several county leaders said, but previous election reviews already have determined there were no irregularities or fraud during the hotly contested 2020 races.
Hayden has not briefed the county commission, which also serves as the Board of Election Canvassers that certifies local elections, on the status of the investigation or any questions he believes it has raised so far, Fast said.
But the commission has received information from the local elections office about its review of the 2020 races and Chairman Ed Eilert said he believes they have given “logical, appropriate responses” to concerns raised by critics of the election results.
“My assessment is that the concerns that have been raised, bottom line, are not valid,” Eilert said.
Roeland Park Mayor Mike Kelly, who is running this year to replace a retiring Eilert as commission chairman, lambasted the investigation as politically motivated and accused Hayden of lying.
“Sheriff Hayden is using taxpayer dollars to further perpetuate the lie of election fraud that has divided our country and threatens our democracy,” said Mike Kelly, candidate for Chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners and Mayor of Roeland Park. “According to our Secretary of State — a Republican — and county election officials, there is not a shred of evidence that points to any fraud in Johnson County, yet extremists continue to sow mistrust and division.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 12:55 PM.
