Florida couple put on probation for submitting fake petition signatures for No Labels Kansas

TOPEKA — The second of two Florida residents convicted of submitting bogus signatures on petitions to establish No Labels Kansas as an official political party has been ordered to serve 18 months on probation.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who is running for reelection against Democrat Chris Mann, said George Edward Andrews was found guilty of election forgery and perjury for his part in a 2023 petition drive that legitimized No Labels Kansas. The resolution of his case in Johnson County District Court followed that of accomplice Jamie Louise Johnson, also of Dade City, Florida. She was placed on probation for 18 months.

Originally, Andrews was arrested on 30 criminal counts, and Johnson was taken into custody in Nebraska on 19 criminal counts.

No Labels Kansas was approved by Secretary of State Scott Schwab as a political party in good standing in 2024 after party organizers presented petition signatures equal to 2% of total votes cast in the state’s gubernatorial general election in 2022. A portion of those signatures were forged.

Under Kansas law, a petition circulator may be criminally liable for falsely declaring they witnessed the signing of an election petition or aided the placement of forged names on a petition.

“Kansas law requires petition circulators to tell the truth under oath and to collect only genuine signatures of qualified electors,” Kobach said. “These defendants did neither. They submitted false affidavits and put other people’s names on official election petitions.”

In May, leadership of No Labels Kansas requested termination of the party’s recognition in Kansas, and Schwab agreed to do so. That converted the voter registration of about 7,000 party members to independent status.

In a bizarre episode, David Miller, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, and Kris Van Meteren, owner of a Kansas political marketing firm, unsuccessfully tried to assume control of No Labels Kansas.

Kobach said the criminal case demonstrated the state’s commitment to prosecuting individuals who violated laws designed to maintain election integrity.

Andrews, 32, and Johnson, 49, entered guilty pleas in district court to one count of election perjury and two counts of election forgery. Both worked as petition circulators in Kansas and admitted to individually forging signatures of two people on the No Labels Kansas petition.

Andrews was sentenced Wednesday, while Johnson was sentenced in March. Their controlling penalty was 14 months in state prison on the nonperson felonies, but that was suspended by the judge for a punishment of probation.

Schwab, who will leave the office of secretary of state in January, said the Kansas offices of attorney general and secretary of state worked collaboratively on the case to advance a policy of “zero tolerance for election crime.”

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in 2024 that Johnson and Andrews were arrested and accused of petition fraud in Sumter, Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties in Florida. While working as paid petition collectors, Florida law enforcement officials said, Johnson and Andrews allegedly submitted 133 invalid petitions on a state constitutional amendment.