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State officials are closely watching the investigation of former elections supervisor Buddy Johnson. A stinging audit released Tuesday found Johnson violated Florida law by overspending his budget. Still unanswered is whether Johnson misused Federal funds. Secretary of State Kurt Browning says he is waiting for the results of a second audit covering October first through January 5th before he takes any new action.

“It was unclear as to whether or not the federal money was spent for federal activity,” Browning said. “I think we can probably get a better picture of that when we get the other piece of that picture, if you will, and that will be the October 1 through January 5th piece. Certainly I have a concern about making sure that federal grant money that was given to Hillsborough county, or any county for that matter, was used for federal activities.”

The second audit is expected to be complete by mid March. Browning says getting involved before then would simply be “too many cooks in the kitchen.”