Johnson County sheriff’s ‘election fraud’ investigation is a wasteful, partisan farce
Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden’s investigation of alleged 2020 voter fraud is wasteful, unnecessary, misguided and counterproductive. It should end. Now.
No serious person believes an investigation would yield any evidence of systemic voter fraud in Johnson County in 2020. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize the fevered dreams of goofy conspiracy zealots with far too much time on their hands.
“It’s easy to place blame on the process of election administration when you lose an election,” said former Johnson County Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt, pointing out the obvious: These complaints come from sore losers untethered to reality.
Election “truthers” torture mathematics relentlessly to “prove” President Joe Biden didn’t win in Johnson County in 2020. Their claims collapse quickly: More than a year after the election, no one has produced the name of a voter who cast an illegal ballot in the county.
The claims fail any test of logic as well. If Democrats could fix the election for Biden, why would they stop there? Why wouldn’t they rig the vote against Republican crackpots such as state Sen. Mike Thompson? He won in 2020.
The 2020 election was supervised by Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican. He’s found no evidence of widespread, systemic fraud. The election was safe, secure and fair.
No matter. Hayden has said he’s obliged to investigate voter fraud complaints. “I can tell you we have found some things and some numbers. Part of them are a mathematical impossibility,” he said recently.
Pardon us if we’re nervous when the sheriff talks about math.
Dreaming up strange patterns of registration and voter behavior proves absolutely nothing. Each election stands on its own merits, and must be judged that way, Hayden’s pandering notwithstanding.
“Political outcomes that we dislike do not prove fraud,” wrote KU political science professor Patrick Miller. “Both parties lose elections. That doesn’t prove that … elections are fraudulent.”
Donald Trump lost Johnson County because its voters were tired of his relentless assault on the presidency, and the people. That shows good judgment, not criminal behavior.
“Voters in Johnson County will not stand for these lies,” said Roeland Park Mayor Mike Kelly, who’s running for Johnson County chair. We hope he’s right.
It’s easy to dismiss these claims, and Hayden’s investigation, as silly diversions from reality. Johnson Countians, though, should pay attention to this story, because the quality of life they enjoy could be at risk.
For decades, the county’s voters have elected sensible public officials from both parties. In general, those officials have pursued nonpartisan policies on taxes, education, growth, spending and law enforcement.
Johnson County has avoided electing fringe candidates more focused on national issues than local concerns. Voters have endorsed commonsense candidates who work to improve the lives of residents, not split them apart.
Hayden said he wouldn’t follow a county directive requiring workers to prove COVID-19 vaccinations or get tests. He’s fought against plans to appoint sheriffs in Kansas, rather than elect them. Now he’s giving tacit endorsement to bizarre election theories.
Johnson Countians deserve public officials who work to make the county better instead of pursuing fantasies for political benefit. Increasingly, Hayden fits into the second category, not the first.