ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The two sitting St. Johns County commissioners accused in the 2024 fake voter-guide scheme returned to the meeting Tuesday and faced further public scrutiny and calls to resign.
This comes nearly 2 weeks after District 2 Commissioner Sarah Arnold and District 1 Commissioner Christian Whitehurst attended the meeting by phone and refused to step down despite requests from multiple St. Johns County residents.
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In that same meeting, the commissioners approved a vote of no confidence for Arnold and Whitehurst. The board also formally requested that Gov. Ron DeSantis suspend them. DeSantis appointed Arnold to her seat back in 2021.
GOP party chair for St. Johns County, Denver Cook, was the one who tipped off police to start the investigation. He was also the first person to give public comment and continued calling for their resignation.
“The majority of this very bench voted no confidence and asked for their suspension, yet these individuals are sitting here today, unlike two weeks ago, refusing to resign,” Cook said. “The reason: pride. It is an arrogant pride. They think they are above the rules and above accountability.”
Sherry Badger, another resident, asked about the enforcement of Florida’s Sunshine Law.
“They were criminally charged. Where is the Sunshine Law? There’s a lot more deeper stuff going on in this county that needs to be exposed,” she said.
Whitehurst told News4JAX Tuesday that he couldn’t comment on the allegations and that he will not be resigning. We also tried to catch up with Arnold, but she walked away.
Vice Chair Ann Taylor called on them to resign again during the meeting.
“I thought it was very disrespectful that they couldn’t even answer the question. They just sat there, dead silent,” Taylor said.
News4JAX counted that the word resign came up 25 times during Tuesday’s meeting.
One of those times was Whitehurst not saying he would resign, but actually asking Chair Clay Murphy to resign from the canvassing board after claiming he inappropriately backed a candidate in a Facebook post.
“I appreciate him bringing that up. I did resign from the canvassing board last year because I supported a Republican for office. So he’s absolutely right, and he’s justified in asking the question. I don’t feel like that applies to this election,” Murphy said.
News4JAX called Arnold for comment and was sent to voicemail.
Residents, many dressed in red had similar things to say to the accused commissioners.
“They’ve claimed that, we are for the people, why are they still here? They should be takin’ responsibility for what they’ve done,” Charlie Hunt said.
All five face misdemeanor charges for conspiracy and producing an unauthorized voter guide. Campaign manager Briana Jordan, who was arrested, faces an additional third-degree felony charge for tampering with physical evidence — the only defendant facing a felony.
According to charging documents, an alleged “secret envelope stuffing” operation took place at a rented home that was used as a campaign headquarters. The document said people working under Jordan’s direction placed fraudulent guides into envelopes. The envelopes had no return addresses and used postage stamps.
The guide falsely showed certain candidates were endorsed by the local Republican Party, according to investigators.
State Rep. Kim Kendall, who represents St. Johns County and won her 2024 race, said her image was removed from the fake voter guide — making her one of its targets.
“To start hearing from people that they had received this fake voter guide was just a big gut punch that’s really hard to explain unless you’ve been in that situation,” Kendall said. “And then to start seeing people going to polls with fake voter guide in hand and try to explain them they had the wrong one.”
Attorneys representing Whitehurst, Arnold and former St. Augustine Beach Mayor and current commissioner Dylan Rumrell released a joint statement following the charges.
“These allegations have lingered for nearly two years in the hands of various government agencies,” the statement read. “With formal charges now filed, County Commissioner Arnold, County Commissioner Whitehurst and St. Augustine Beach City Commissioner Rumrell look forward to the conclusion of this matter and will have no further comments at this time.”
Whitehurst and Arnold pleaded not guilty to their misdemeanor charges on Monday.
