![]() Hayden said he understood the woman to be asking about printed data for the primary vote recount that did not include names of voters. “It’s kind of unfortunate the way this thing’s recorded, but there were probably 50 people in the room,” he said. But later in the phone conversation, he acknowledged the video does not show him clearly saying that, and that those sentiments may have been said by people in crosstalk in the meeting. He also said he did tell her it is illegal to take a picture of anyone else’s ballot. ![]() Hayden at first said he had told woman who asked about taking pictures at the polls to be cautious and to ask someone at the polling station whether it would be okay. His recent comments, he said, were meant to encourage attendees at the meeting to educate themselves about the process. That would be wholly inappropriate,” he said. In a follow-up phone conversation with the Post Sunday, Hayden clarified that he is not deputizing private citizens to commit illegal acts in order to help his election investigation. Go to the election office and keep an eye on them, because that is what we’ve done. 30 meeting, Hayden exhorts attendees who want to help his office: “Volunteer. When asked by the Post about Hayden’s comments, Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman directed a reporter to that same statute.Īt an earlier point in the Aug. Hayden never does give the woman a direct answer about whether taking pictures of ballots or election data at polling sites would be illegal.īallot selfies taken by a voter of his or her own ballot were deemed legal by the state in 2018, but unauthorized disclosure of a ballot’s contents is a felony under Kansas Statute 25-2422. ![]() The group was not representative of any particular political party, he said.Ī video of it was posted to Rumble, a video platform supported by Donald Trump and right-leaning entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Hayden said the meeting was part of a series of talks he’s been having since the COVID-19 pandemic, intended to ease people’s fears on various topics. 30 took place in the sheriff’s office with about 25 to 30 people who were clearly supportive of Hayden’s ongoing investigation. The two-hour question-and-answer session recorded Aug. He also reiterated to attendees that it has been difficult to get enough information to charge someone. 30 meeting that his office’s surveillance of them did not turn up any instances of people dropping off more than the ten-ballot limit. Hayden has often mentioned voting drop boxes as a source of concern but said in the Aug. So far, only one election-related offense report has been filed, according to records returned by the sheriff’s office following an open records request.Ĭounty and state election officials have continued to stand by the integrity of their election procedures and the validity of recent election results. The investigation has gone on since the fall of 2021, and Hayden has mentioned it in some appearances before right-wing groups like the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group that espouses the view that a sheriff’s authority within their county supersedes that of all other government agents or elected officials at any level. The video and the meeting it was recorded at come as Hayden continues a months-long investigation into 20 election results in Johnson County. ![]() But everything else, they get all touchy and crazy if they catch you doing it.” “Be slippery about it if you do it,” he responds, prompting laughter in the room.Īfter the laughter dies down, Hayden adds: “You can take a picture of your own ballot. ![]() 30 and posted to the website Rumble, the woman asks Hayden if, as a poll worker, she can take pictures and send them to Hayden. Such an action could run afoul of a state law that makes it a felony to intentionally disclose ballot information. Hayden made that clarification recently after a video emerged of him speaking last month with a group of supporters at his office in which he tells a woman who asked if she could take pictures of things she deems suspicious as she works at the polls to be “slippery” about it. Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden says he does not want private citizens to do anything illegal in service to his ongoing investigation into recent election results in the county. ![]()
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