Jay Ashcroft accuses Missouri Secretary of State of election mismanagement

Republican Jay Ashcroft accused Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander of election mismanagement Wednesday for failing to address alleged voter fraud in St. Louis.

Ashcroft, who is running for the position Kander is vacating, leveled the accusation during a campaign stop at My Daddy’s Cheesecake restaurant in Cape Girardeau.

He claimed Kander, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, ordered the St. Louis election board not to release documents surrounding an investigation into absentee-voting irregularities in the August primary for the 78th District state House seat.

“This secretary of state refuses to work with local election authorities,” Ashcroft said.

He charged Kander has ignored repeated issues of election fraud in St. Louis over the years.

Jason Kander

“The secretary of state has turned a blind eye to it, Ashcroft said.

Kander’s office rejected Ashcroft’s accusations. Kander “did not tell the St. Louis city election board to close any records and does not have the authority to do so,” Kander spokeswoman Stephanie Fleming wrote in an email released by the Kander campaign.

According to Fleming, Kander was concerned about protecting voter privacy.

“The secretary of state’s concerns are limited to releasing information about Safe at Home address confidentiality participants as well as the last four digits of absentee voters’ Social Security numbers, but that would be up to a judge to decide, not the secretary of state’s office,” Fleming wrote.

The Safe at Home address-confidentiality program has helped survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, rape or stalking in their efforts to stay safe by providing a designated address to use when creating new public records. These services keep survivors’ confidential addresses out of the hands of their assailants, according to Kander’s office.

Ashcroft told a crowd of about 20 people at his campaign stop in Cape Girardeau the secretary of state’s office under Kander has “written misleading ballot language, fought to stop a photo-voter ID law and caused countless Missourians to be disenfranchised from voting because of election mismanagement.”

Ashcroft promised to protect voter integrity if elected.

The Republican candidate said proposed voter-ID regulations would not be implemented unless the state legislature provides the necessary funding to provide identification cards for those who don’t have such identification.

“It will not disenfranchise a single, legal voter,” he said.

Voter-ID regulations would help prevent voter fraud, Ashcroft said.

“It makes it harder to cheat,” he said.

Ashcroft said he would make sure “elections are run properly.”

Ashcroft is opposed in the November election by Democratic candidate Robin Smith and Libertarian candidate Chris Morrill.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who seeks re-election and is opposed by Kander, attended Ashcroft’s early-morning event in Cape Girardeau. Other elected officials at the campaign stop included 8th District U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, and state Rep. Kathy Swan, R-Cape Girardeau.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

265 S. Broadview St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.