Missouri officials express confidence in election security amid national skepticism

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

With Election Day less than a month away, a growing number of Americans do not trust the process, but Missouri officials are still confident that the state's elections are fair and secure.

A study by the Pew Research Center found that after the 2020 presidential election only 21% of Donald Trump supporters surveyed had a favorable view of how the election was administered nationally while 94% of Joe Biden supporters surveyed said the elections were run well. The same study found that just 35% of Trump supporters surveyed were very confident their vote was counted.

Trump did not concede after his 2020 defeat in the presidential election, alleging widespread fraud that kept him from winning.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft feels that some of those voters' concerns are valid. 

“You look at what happened in Pennsylvania where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ignored their own constitution with regard to absentee ballots. Look at what's happening in Virginia and  Alabama right now,  where the United States Department of Justice is ignoring the Constitution and is suing to stop non-citizens from being removed from the rolls in that state,” Ashcroft said. 

Harvard University conducted a study in 2020 known as the Electoral Integrity Project. The study consisted of nearly 800 election scholars from each party who observed the election process across all 50 states. The results found that the experts overwhelmingly rejected claims of fraud in the 2020 election. However several flaws were found that undermined the quality of the election such as gerrymandering, misinformation and campaign finance. 

America’s Cyber Defense Agency even went as far as to say the 2020 election run by state and local elections was “the most secure election in American history.” Elections are run and administered at the local level, specifically the county.

In June, the Republican National Committee launched a swing state initiative to recruit thousands of poll workers to serve as “election integrity” watchdogs. The program was designed to prevent “Democrat attempts to circumvent the rules,” an RNC press release claims.

“People have a right to be concerned if you look at other states because you have election authorities that either aren't doing the right job or courts are getting involved and mandating that they do improper things,” Ashcroft said. “I'm blessed that I live in Missouri. We passed a law in 2022 that took the authority out of the hands of the courts within six months of a presidential election to make changes.” 

Some of these changes include outlawing ballot drop boxes, restricting the amount of ballots that can be sent to places like assisted living facilities, and not allowing ballots to be received after the election. 

“There is transparency throughout the process," Ashcroft said. "The only part of the process that we don't want transparency. I don't want anyone to know how someone else voted. But other than that, Missouri has made great strides.” 

Last week, Ashcroft attended a two-day election security summit in Omaha, Nebraska, hosted by the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center.  He was one of four secretaries of state who attended including Nebraska’s Bob Evnen, Iowa’s Paul Pate, Kansas’ Scott Schwab and South Dakota’s Monae Johnson. The four met to discuss potential election and cybersecurity issues ahead of the November election. 

“The number one takeaway from a group of Midwest states was we are so glad that we are secretaries of states in the Midwest and not on the East and West coasts where they're having really problems that we just don't see,” Ashcroft said. 

Missouri has 116 local election authorities working to ensure elections run smoothly across the state. 

“The vast majority of the time, people are always very surprised at how much effort and work actually goes into making sure that the election goes off,” Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said. “They're pleasantly surprised with how many checks and balances there are.” 

One change that Ashcroft would still like to see implemented is requiring proof of citizenship to vote. 

“That would be a very easy thing to do. The people of this state in 2016 passed a constitutional amendment to allow that.  We just need the legislature to pass enabling legislation,” Ashcroft said. 

Many top Republicans share Ashcroft’s sentiment. However, for many Americans providing proof of citizenship can be difficult. A 2023 National Survey from the University of Maryland found that more than 21 million eligible voters said they either did not have or could not quickly find their U.S. birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship to show the next day to vote. 

The findings also say U.S. citizens of color are more likely than white citizens, who do not identify as Latino, to say they lack citizenship documents. Some critics say that these laws are not necessary given all the checks and balances currently in place and would only discourage eligible citizens from voting. 

“It would be very difficult [to cheat in an election], especially to do it and not get caught," Lennon said. "Voters when they fill out a voter registration form or when they vote, are signing under penalty of perjury that they are eligible to be able to vote. And whether you voted or not and your voter registration record is public record. We get asked constantly from campaigns,  from candidates, from advocacy groups for the list of voters that have already voted in an election or who are registered to vote and eligible to vote.  If those things were happening, that's when they would be caught.” 

Lennon added that entire process is "very public." Any updates a person makes to their record get attached to their voter record saying that the county and state have a “very good” chain of custody to ensure voter registration records are constantly being updated. The voter registration forms sent to county offices are checked with reports sent by the Social Security Administration, DMV, Department of Corrections and Secretary of State's Office to make sure only eligible voters are registered.

On Election Day, voter registration records are provided to a bipartisan team of election judges who ensure the person is eligible to vote and hasn’t already turned in a ballot by mail or through absentee voting. 

“We have a checklist process for every step of it from the time that they cut the tag on the ballots to open up the bags to the time that on Election Day in the evening, they close everything up and bring it back to our office. So it is all tracked through a chain of custody forms,” Lennon said. 

Lennon said that even after the polls close there is still work to be done to ensure the results are accurate. This includes a public certification process that posts a notice that has a hand count audit of polling places.

“It's a very time-consuming process. It's very laborious and it's very important because it makes sure that the hand-counted ballots results match the results that came out of the voting machines at the end of the night. We test them before Election Day," Lennon said.

With all the steps that Missouri has implemented, Ashcroft is confident that Missouri’s elections are secure. 

“I was on the ballot in August and I lost. I'm telling you that I believe the election was run correctly and that I lost,” Ashcroft explained. “You're not going to find anybody that has more of a stake in the issue than someone who was on the ballot.”