Two people voted at least twice during the 2020 general election and also sent mail-in ballots to Florida, according to Missouri’s top election officer.
“One possible explanation might be that there was a lot of political interference with the mail during that election and so it's not surprising to hear that some mail may have been rerouted to another state," said Richard Reuben, a professor of public law at the University of Missouri.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced last week that the voting discrepancy occurred in St. Charles County, according to media reports.
“It's not surprising for there to be some irregularities in an election,” Reuben told the St. Louis Record. “Every election has some kind of irregularities and in some respects, it’s good news that there were only two. The concern is with systemic issues where there are multiple duplicate votes.”
The discovery was reportedly referred to St. Charles County prosecutor Tim Lohmar.
“The St. Charles County prosecutor has broad discretion,” Reuben said. “The prosecutor could file charges against the two voters who have been identified. Those charges would be election violations, which are, generally speaking, a felony. Election violations are serious. There are different degrees of felonies but that would be a felony.”
Missouri Lawyers reported that the incidents were isolated and do not indicate an issue with election integrity in Missouri. Reuben agrees.
“I do not think that we need to load up on election procedures or more and more procedures that will make it more and more difficult for voters to vote," he said.
“There are procedures in place already to prevent a larger problem from happening and they appear to be working. One of those procedures is you can be criminally prosecuted for this. Most people don't want to put themselves in that position and that's why you don't really have a lot of election fraud because it’s pretty easy to detect.”
Lohmar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"The state's interest is of course in assuring the integrity of its elections and elections are imperfect," Reuben added. "They've always been imperfect. The question is whether those irregularities, as Missouri law frames them, rise to a sufficient magnitude to cast doubt on the validity of an election."