A federal judge has dismissed an election integrity lawsuit filed by a Republican Missouri House of Representatives candidate who lost her primary race in August last year.
Ali Graeff sued the U.S. Election Assistance Commission because voting machines are allegedly not certified according to requirements under the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
“The case was not given any priority or precedence as the law requires for a candidate contestation,” she said.
In their Motion to Dismiss, EAC commissioners argue that Graeff has no standing to sue and that her claims are moot.
HAVA law established the Election Assistance Commission to help states comply with and distribute HAVA funds. Funding helps states meet new standards, replace, and purchase new voting systems and improve election administration including security.
“We must have a judicial system that abides and works under the law so anything outside of that is against the law,” Graeff said. “I'm not getting my due process. Five days after I filed this, I was due a hearing and I have not been given that."
An immediate statewide return to hand-cast and hand-counted paper ballots and the permanent removal of all electronic voting machines, systems, equipment, and poll pads is Graeff's goal.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Graeff also sued St. Charles County Elections Director Kurt Bahr and Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in federal court contesting the Aug. 2, 2022, St. Charles primary election.
"The laboratories that are used to test the machines we vote on must be federally accredited and they are not," Graeff alleges. "It is the responsibility of the election director and the chief election director to ensure laws are being followed. Who is testing these machines? You could send them to Walmart and say they're good to vote on."
Bahr filed a Motion to Dismiss in October and Judge White remanded the case back to state court.
“He sent the contestation back down to circuit court because it has no jurisdiction in federal court,” Graeff said. “It got sent back down to Judge Deborah Alessi who had it from the beginning. Judge Alessi recused herself. She said there were conflicts because of golf with Kurt Bahr and she was a participant in the primary election. She was on the ballot.”
After Judge Rebecca Navarro McKelvy also recused herself, St. Charles Circuit Court presiding Judge Christopher McDonough subsequently recused the entire division and sent Graeff’s case to the Missouri Supreme Court for judicial assignment.
“He said there is no one there that is not conflicted with Kurt Bahr,” Graeff added.
The Missouri Supreme Court assigned Judge Travis Partney of Jefferson County to Graeff's case and on May 4, Graeff filed a memo alerting him to alleged improprieties.
"As the presiding Judge for St. Charles Circuit Court Division 5, the petitioner feels it pertinent to inform Your Honor, show Your Honor, and place on the official court record every perversion of court process that has occurred to the Petitioner since her initial filing," she wrote. "Disappointingly, at best, this has the appearance that Pro Se litigants are treated differently by St. Charles Circuit Court. At worst, this has the appearance of a collaborated effort between the respondents and the circuit court to obstruct Petitioner's right to Due Process and an apparent obstruction of justice."