Dereliction of duty: Missouri’s secretary of state is openly attacking our democracy
The right to vote is among the most sacred American rights. Of the 15 post-Civil War amendments to the United States Constitution, four of them — more than 25% — concerned voting: the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments. However, we are today living in a period of not-so-subtle attacks on the right to vote.
A secretary of state is supposed to tend to our democracy with the care of an expert gardener. The person who currently holds that office in Missouri is more like the Grim Reaper, using his anti-democracy scythe to cut down protections for voters at every turn. Masquerading as an effort for “election integrity,” the real threat to democracy is being waged by the secretary of state himself.
The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded last year that Russia targeted election systems in all 50 states, including Missouri. Rather than shoring up our state’s election security, the current secretary spent much of his over three years in office defending the state’s undemocratic voter ID law. The Supreme Court of Missouri found the secretary provided misleading information about Missouri’s voter ID requirements and that this risked voter disenfranchisement. Instead of showing fidelity to the rule of law and correcting course, the secretary recently told a news outlet that, despite the court’s ruling, “We aren’t done, and there’s so much more to do.”
The secretary’s cavalier disregard for voter protection doesn’t end there. When Kansas’ Kris Kobach volunteered to work on a sham federal “election integrity” commission, Missouri’s current secretary of state transferred sensitive state voter registration data without any assurance from the commission that it would be handled securely. We are fortunate that Kobach was ultimately too incompetent to handle the task and the commission went nowhere. The risk to voters that Missouri’s secretary of state so willingly created is unacceptable.
While in office, the secretary has outlined no programs, plans or resources to ensure that the 2020 elections in Missouri will be free from malicious interference. Missouri voters need to have confidence in their election security, but he has refused to offer anything deserving of that confidence.
Soon, the eyes of the nation will be on Missouri as voters go to the polls on March 10 to cast a vote for their nominee for president. Even after a high-profile failure of the caucuses in Iowa, the current secretary of state continues to advocate for his undemocratic bill to convert Missouri’s primary to a party-run caucus. We cannot allow that to happen on our watch.
The secretary of state’s office is tasked with ensuring election security. Its Elections Division should be at the forefront of protecting our democracy. Instead, the current secretary has been asleep at the wheel. Because of the importance of voting to our democracy, we must have confidence in the system itself. That is not the case today.
Candidates also deserve the same confidence. The secretary recently informed presidential campaigns that his office won’t be providing information they need to know, including the number of delegates each candidate will be awarded based on election results. Instead, campaigns will have to wait weeks, perhaps months. This is unacceptable. In 2020, the secretary of state’s office should report precinct-level results on election night. If I am honored to be Missouri's secretary of state, I would prioritize developing systems needed to make this happen. Missourians, members of the media and campaigns deserve expeditious transparency.
The secretary is showing complacency when it comes to election security. He’s comfortable with a system full of flaws that threaten our elections and voter data security. As new threats to our democratic process keep emerging, we cannot afford to continue using antiquated systems to cast votes that have echoes for generations. We need to constantly update protections and find new ways to ensure election security.
The secretary of state should operate with transparency and ensure voters know what is being done to guarantee that their vote is secure and will count. The current secretary has demonstrated time and again he is incapable of doing so. Missouri deserves better.
Yinka Faleti is a U.S. Army veteran and a Democratic candidate for Missouri secretary of state.
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Dereliction of duty: Missouri’s secretary of state is openly attacking our democracy."