Principled Election Integrity Leadership in “The Peoples’ Office”
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has proven to be a thought and policy leader in the election integrity movement as well as a stalwart champion to promote accessibility, security and credibility for Show Me State voters.
After starting his career as a mechanical engineer and then as an attorney, it didn’t take long for Secretary Ashcroft to continue his family’s legacy of public service to Missourians. Now a two-term Secretary of State, Ashcroft was first elected in 2015 with a promise to take significant action to protect his state’s voters and for Missouri to be able to control its elections without interference from arguably un-constitutional federal incursion.
The Secretary has been a champion of individual rights and business innovations for his state, with election integrity a priority. He was a key player in ensuring that no private monies nor any in-kind donations from private organizations and individuals can be provided to election offices or officials – Missouri’s comprehensive “no Zuckbucks” laws are a model for other states.
Cleta and Secretary Ashcroft discuss many important aspects of election integrity, including the need for transparency in election procedures, with a steady eye always anticipating what the left might do next to weaken election protections.
After realizing that ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center) put more restrictions and limitations on Missouri’s voter rolls rather than meeting its ostensible (false) purpose in cleaning them, the Secretary tried to work with ERIC leadership to improve its services to his state – to no avail. In March of 2023, Missouri became the third state to withdraw from ERIC, a taxpayer-funded, leftwing private organization that meets none of its promises to its member states.
An outspoken constitutionalist and federalist, Secretary Ashcroft notes that “if states control their own policy, some will get it right and some will get it wrong. But if the federal government controls state policy, every state gets it wrong.”
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