Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick released an audit report on Monday that alleges Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft refused to provide him with copies of the cybersecurity reviews of Missouri's 116 local election authorities, which he said violates state law.
House bill 1878, passed by the Missouri General Assembly in 2022, requires the Missouri Secretary of State's office and local election authorities to receive cybersecurity reviews every two years and submit those reviews to the state auditor's office.
Ashcroft's office issued a formal response, which is included in the audit report and disputes its findings, arguing that sharing the cybersecurity reports with Fitzpatrick's office risks revealing confidential information.
The audit also criticized the secretary's decision to end Missouri's participation in the Electronic Information Registration Information Center, or ERIC, a national system designed to improve the accuracy of voting rolls, without consulting stakeholders or planning its replacement, which, the report says, impacts the state's local election authorities' ability to correct inaccurate voter records.
Last year, Ashcroft alleged that ERIC failed to recruit states to address voter fraud and had instead focused on adding names to voter rolls by targeting people who already had the ability to register.
Ashcroft's formal response, cited in the audit report, defends his decision to leave the program, and follows ERIC's refusal to update its system.
The audit found that Ashcroft's office did not fully evaluate the benefits of the system before ending the state's membership.
Fitzpatrick said in the report that the state's exit made the process of maintaining accurate voting rolls less efficient for county clerks.
The Kansas City Star reported that Ashcroft spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said in an email that the audit was purely based on Fitzpatrick's opinions and that Ashcroft's office did not violate state law.
The audit's release also comes amid Ashcroft's 2024 gubernatorial campaign for governor of Missouri.
The state auditor's office is not seeking legal action against Ashcroft or his office.
This Cyber News was published on statescoop.com. Publication date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 01:44:04 +0000