Brickbat: Just a Piece of Paper

Sheriff Calvin Hayden of Johnson County, Kansas, has admitted that a warrant he claimed to have allowing him to seize election ballots was not signed by a judge. Since 2019, Hayden claimed to be investigating election fraud, focusing on a software company the county used to manage poll workers. No charges have come from that investigation. While state law requires the county to destroy the ballots, the elections office had held off because of Hayden's purported investigation. But when they never received that warrant, and after being reminded of the law by the secretary of state's office, they destroyed the ballots, leading Hayden to accuse them of destroying evidence. During a candidates' forum, former Kansas GOP Chairman Mike Kuckelman asked Hayden which judge signed the warrant he claimed to have had. "There's no judge," Hayden replied. Kuckelman pointed out that a judge has to sign a warrant for it to be valid. "I didn't say it was valid," Hayden said.