ST. LOUIS—Missouri’s chief election officer said Monday that elections in the state are safe and secure but that he supports comments made by President Donald Trump promising an end to mail-in voting.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump baselessly slammed mail-in ballots as a “HOAX” and suggested his effort to end the practice would come in the form of an executive order ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS,” the president wrote. “I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS.”
Denny Hoskins, the Republican Secretary of State who was elected in 2024 on a platform of election integrity, has long shared the President’s skepticism about issues related to elections.
“We’re doing a lot of great things here in the state of Missouri, a lot of the things that President Trump has already said on his election order of March of 2025 as well as his social media post today, we’re already committed to doing and and already doing. Is there room for improvement? Most certainly, most certainly there is with any process but I think for the most part, Missouri elections are safe and secure,” Hoskins told Spectrum News.
The Constitution makes the states the entities that determine the “time, place and manner” of elections, but does allow Congress to “make” or “alter” rules for federal elections.
Congress can change the way states run congressional and presidential elections but has no say in the way a state runs its own elections. The president is not mentioned at all in the Constitution’s list of entities with powers over elections.
Hoskins contends that he could see a potential scenario where mail-in ballots are not used in federal races but could be for state and local elections, depending on the president’s order.
“We have good elections here in the state of Missouri but there is some things that obviously we need to work on,” Hoskins said. All states, he said, need a set of guidelines when it comes to processes, specifically pointing to whether proof of citizenship is required to vote. The use of absentee ballot drop boxes varies by state. They’re outlawed in Missouri, but in use in neighboring states like Illinois. Some states send absentee ballots to all eligible voters. In Missouri voters have to apply for them.
“While we can’t comment on a yet unreleased executive order, it is important to remember that the St. Louis County Election Board must abide by all state and federal election laws,” St. Louis County Election Directors Rick Stream and Eric Fey said in a joint statement.
The county board of elections said seven percent of the ballots cast in the November general election were done by mail.
“All ballots are paper ballots in St. Louis County and robust audits are conducted following each election. In the 22 elections held since our current voting system was purchased in 2019, hundreds of thousands of paper ballots have been hand counted to verify the accuracy of the tabulation software. During these bipartisan hand recounts, there hasn’t been a single instance of the tabulation software not tabulating a vote as it was programmed to do. St. Louis Countians can rest assured that every election is accurate and audited,” they said.
The pair encourages voters to tour the county election office’s facilities and consider serving as an election judge.
