“The arrested individual was part of a scheme to defraud Kansas voters by placing their forged signatures on petitions. In Kansas, we take election fraud seriously, and we will prosecute every case where the evidence indicates a crime has been committed beyond a reasonable doubt,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said.
The arrest comes following an extensive investigation by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.
Andrews is charged with two counts of election perjury and 28 counts of election forgery. He was arrested on Feb. 10 in Dade City, Florida. Pending extradition to Kansas, Andrews will appear in Johnson County District Court.
In 2015, the legislature gave the Attorney General’s Office and the Secretary of State’s Office the authority to prosecute elections crimes in Kansas. When Kobach was Secretary of State, he successfully prosecuted 12 cases of election fraud, including double voting and non-citizen voting. Kobach is the first Kansas Attorney General to exercise the authority to prosecute election crimes.
Andrews should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.