A total of eight Phillips County residents were arrested for purportedly violating Arkansas’ election laws in the 2024 primary election runoff for the county’s Justice of the Peace District 9 seat, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced Wednesday.
Lita Moore Johnson, the sitting Phillips County District 9 justice of the peace who won the runoff in 2024, was arrested and charged with two counts of solicitation to commit perjury, which is a class D felony, according to the news release.
That happened “after evidence was submitted that she told multiple voters to illegally change the address on their voter registration so that they could vote for her in the runoff,” the news release states.
“Seven other individuals were charged with perjury, a class C felony, for fraudulently changing their address on an Arkansas Voter Registration Application,” the news release states. “Each of them voted in the precinct corresponding with the District 9 Justice of the Peace runoff despite their actual address dictating that they vote elsewhere.”
According to the news release, they are:
Mearion Armstrong, 68
Cordelia Foster, 60
Shirley Hicks, 56
Jasean Smith, 30
Adam Swopes, 26
Rachel Gamble Sykes, 56
Jocelyn Washington, 39
“The investigation and arrests of eight individuals on voter registration fraud charges make clear that unlawful activity will not be tolerated,” Arkansas Secretary of State Cole Jester said in a statement.
Moore Johnson placed second in the 2026 Democratic primary for Phillips County clerk, according to the secretary of state’s website.
Moore Johnson declined to comment when contacted by phone on Wednesday.
This is a developing story; Check back for updates.
Ella McCarthy
Ella McCarthy covers state politics and the state Supreme Court. Before joining the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, she covered Austin City Hall for the Austin American-Statesman, and before that, held a fellowship with ABC News in Washington, D.C., where she covered national politics. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, her work has been recognized by the Hearst Foundation, the Missouri Press Association and LION Publishers in the LION local journalism awards. She contributed to the Statesman’s coverage of a two-city shooting rampage that won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for breaking news coverage.
