SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Florida and Kansas are accusing 2 people of forging signatures for petition drives

2025-05-05 21:00:05source:Lakshmi Finance Centercategory:Invest

TOPEKA,SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center Kan. (AP) — Florida and Kansas officials are accusing two petition circulators of forging voter signatures during campaigns to put an abortion rights measure to a vote in Florida and allow the No Labels party to put candidates on the Kansas ballot.

Jamie Johnson, 47, and George Andrews III, 30, both from Dade City, Florida, in the Tampa area, were in jail Wednesday, each on $150,000 bail. Johnson was being held in Sarpy County, Nebraska, south of Omaha, and Andrews in the Tampa area.

Each faces 20 felony charges in Florida, while in Kansas, Andrews faces 30 felony counts and Johnson, 19.

While Andrews has been in custody in Florida since February, authorities in both states couldn’t find Johnson until she was arrested a week ago in Nebraska. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced the arrest Tuesday and said he is seeking to bring Johnson to Kansas for prosecution. She is scheduled to have a July 1 extradition hearing in Nebraska.

Kobach’s office said Andrews and Johnson together forged at least 46 signatures on petitions to get the centrist No Labels group recognized as a political party in Kansas, which allows it to put nominees on the November ballot.

RELATED COVERAGE Disney set to invest up to $17B in Florida parks now that fight with DeSantis appointees has endedTexans receiver Tank Dell recalls ‘traumatic experience’ as victim of Florida restaurant shooting3rd try at approving recreational marijuana in South Dakota makes the ballot

Florida officials said Andrews and Johnson submitted a total of 133 invalid petitions in multiple counties during the effort to get the abortion rights measure on the November ballot.

Neither successful petition drive appears to have depended on the signatures the two submitted. In Kansas, No Labels needed more than 20,000, while in Florida, the figure was at least 891,500.

Still, Kobach said that with election fraud, “It doesn’t matter how far you run.”

“We will drag you back to Kansas and prosecute you,” Kobach said in a statement.

A public defender representing Andrews in Florida did not return a telephone message Wednesday seeking comment. Tom Strigenz, a public defender for Johnson in Nebraska, said she does not have an attorney in Kansas and that she will fight extradition to both Florida and Kansas.

Stringenz couldn’t say whether Johnson was in Nebraska to circulate petitions for proposed ballot initiatives there. She has no ties the state, he said.

___

Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.

More:Invest

Recommend

Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds

Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online “constantly” despite concerns about the effect

Christmas toy charity in western Michigan turns to gift cards after fire

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A charity that has been giving away Christmas gifts in the Grand Rapids a

Coal-producing West Virginia is converting an entire school system to solar power

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going sol