Three elected officials in Florida are among those charged in connection with an alleged false voter guide scheme.
It all started in 2024, when ABC News reported that a “voter guide falsely purporting to show a slate of endorsements by the local Republican Party hit mailboxes in St. John’s County,” creating massive confusion at a critical time in the primary season.
“I saw the card, and I’m like, this is a real issue. I was in shock. I’m dealing with one of probably the most flagrant frauds on voters — the day before early voting. It became an instant train wreck,” St. John’s County GOP Chair Denver Cook told the outlet at the time.
Now, five people stand accused of being involved in the alleged scheme, including St. Johns County Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst, and St. Augustine Beach city commissioner and former mayor Dylan Rumrell, who are facing charges of conspiracy and participating in the production of the false guide.
Charging documents accuse campaign manager Brianna Jordan of coming up with “a scheme” to sow chaos by sending out a fake voter guide with fake endorsements that looked nearly identical to the one the local Republican Party was mailing. At this point, a “secret envelope stuffing” allegedly took place at Jordan’s office involving “in excess of 10,000 fraudulent voter guides” that were then mailed between Jackson and Orlando.
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Ann-Marie Evans was running for the St. Johns County Commission District 1 seat at the time. She was formally endorsed by the St. Johns County GOP and her name was on the correct voter guide, her opponent, Christian Whitehurst, was on the fraudulent guide.
ADVERTISEMENT“Absolutely, I believe that is what shifted the election from a victory for me to a victory for my opponent,” Evans said.
Evans narrowly lost to Whitehurst in the primary election. She now hopes these charges will deter future election interference.
“I know sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly. I am extremely happy that something is finally happening, that there’s accountability for this bad behavior,” Evans said.
State Representative Kim Kendall, who was also endorsed by the St. Johns County GOP in the proper guide, says that the group’s charges come as no surprise.
“My only gut was this had to be a bigger group of people. That was my gut, that it wasn’t just me and you sitting around the kitchen table stuffing all these fake voter guides. Somebody has to pay for it, somebody has to orchestrate it, and several people have to implement it,” she said.
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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