When the St. Charles County Board of Election Director discovered that an electronic voting machine had connectivity to the internet, a certain protocol was required. But, a Missourians-first 501(c)3 is alleging Kurt Bahr acted improperly.
“If he was modifying something, there needed to be a work order,” said Byron Keelin, president of The Freedom Principle MO. “These machines are maintained by a third-party vendor so he could have very well violated the service agreements by cutting the wires, which means that the county could be on the hook for any future maintenance of these machines.”
Section 115.633 of the Missouri statutes makes it illegal to tamper with electronic voting machines. However, St. Charles County Board of Election Deputy Director Mark Parkinson allegedly revealed in a video that he and Bahr physically cut the wires of a voting machine so there would be no connection to the internet.
“Voting machines in Missouri are not supposed to have the ability to connect to the internet and if they have an ethernet port, that means they have the ability to connect to the internet,” Keelin said in an interview. “This situation just tells you why we need to replace voting machines with paper ballots because they do come with this port that can connect to the internet.”
The Freedom Principle MO is calling on Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to investigate Bahr and Parkinson for potentially violating Missouri statutes regarding alleged tampering with electronic voting machines.
“Whether there was malicious intent or not doesn't matter in my opinion,” Keelin told the St. Louis Record. “If Secretary Ashcroft believes in election integrity and wants to make sure that voting machines can be trusted, then this is where he needs to hold the St. Charles County Board of Elections Director Kurt Bahr accountable for their actions.”
Bahr did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The video of Parkinson divulging the information was recorded during a breakfast meeting that was part of the March 2023 St. Charles Townhall Meeting organized by St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil.
“This is a wakeup call for groups like us to push for stricter controls and audit measures by the Secretary of State on voting machines,” Keelin added. “Right now, under Missouri law, the county clerks have the sole responsibility with regards to purchasing and operating of voting machines in the state. The Secretary of State doesn't have really any authority over the decision-making of who uses what machines.”