Cyber reports on Missouri election authorities allegedly withheld by secretary of state

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has been accused by state auditor Scott Fitzpatrick of holding back cybersecurity reviews of the state's local election authorities, which are required to be submitted to the state auditor's officer under the law, reports StateScoop. Aside from allegedly failing to provide the necessary reviews, Ashcroft's office was also castigated for halting the state's membership in the Electronic Information Registration Information Center, or ERIC, without conducting a thorough appraisal of the system's benefits. "I can respect why Secretary Ashcroft felt it was necessary to end the relationship with ERIC, but that doesn't negate the responsibility to have a plan to replace that data so the office has a reliable way to ensure we don't have dead voters registered in Missouri as we enter a major election year," said Fitzpatrick. Meanwhile, no state law violations have been committed by Ashcroft's office, according to spokesperson JoDonn Chaney, who added that the audit merely included "opinion-based conclusions."