Florida man facing year in jail for allegedly illegally voting Trump, says he was dragged out of house at gunpoint by cops

A Florida man is facing two felony charges and the possibility of a year behind bars after voting for Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Jared Janacek, 33, was reportedly overjoyed at casting his first-ever vote, telling his mom (via The Daily Mail), “I’m a law-abiding citizen and I’m so happy, I finally can vote!”

He may have spoken too soon. Florida law restricts convicted felons from voting and Janacek, who was on probation for a drug offense on election day, may have seriously misunderstood his rights. As per the Mail, Janacek was convicted in 2023 of felony possession of a controlled substance after cops discovered a jar of magic mushrooms in his car.

Janacek says he was inspired by Joe Rogan, arguing, “I was in a low spot in my life and was micro-dosing because of Joe Rogan. Taking those mushrooms really did help me. But now they have me standing as a convicted drug felon.” Soon after, Janacek decided he wanted to support Donald Trump, so he began researching whether he was allowed to.

“I just Chat GPT’d it”

He explained: ‘I just Chat GPT’d it and asked, “Can felons vote in Florida? And it said yes, as of 2018, they can now vote.” As per the article, he then registered through the state system, received a voter registration card, and proudly cast his ballot for Trump.

Then, on an early morning in February 2026, a SWAT team kicked in his front door, held him at gunpoint, and dragged him out of his house. Janacek has now been charged with two felonies, unqualified elector willfully voting and false affirmation of oath, and is facing a year in jail.

Janacek has defended his actions, telling the Daily Mail that he was confused by the forms, hadn’t realized he was voting illegally, and that, “I didn’t know what I was doing.” He says he didn’t understand the small print of his probation document, “‘I signed this big, long probation packet and I didn’t know what I was signing. … ‘The officer didn’t really go through it with me. You have to be someone with a law degree to really even understand what you’re looking at” and added, “‘I just feel like I really got entrapped in this situation.”

He describes his current situation as “insane”: “I was an outstanding citizen. Yeah, I’ve made mistakes in my past. But I’ve done all I can to change my life around and do the right thing. And now they want to give me a whole year in jail. It just seems insane.”

Florida authorities have not directly commented on the case, though prosecutors have reportedly pointed out that the probation document Janacek signed “clearly explained in the paragraph Restoration of Voting Rights that Janacek while on felony probation is not allowed to vote.” Janacek’s trial is scheduled for the fall.