Missouri Secretary of State

Candidates for Secretary of State must be a US citizen, a resident of Missouri for 1 year prior to the election, no state or federal felonies and not delinquent on taxes.

The secretary of state is Missouri’s chief election official.

The SOS is responsible for maintaining and preserving current and historic records, regulates the securities industry, and also serves as the filing agency for business, corporate and uniform commercial code records. The secretary of state is the custodian of the Great Seal of the State of Missouri, and authenticates official documents of the governor. The office is also responsible for registering notaries public and trademarks, filing administrative rules, and publishing the Missouri Register, the Code of State Regulations and the state’s Official Manual, known as the “Blue Book.”

In the August 6 Democratic primary, the SOS candidates are State Rep. Barbara Phifer of St. Louis, Monique Williams, a former auditor with the State Auditor’s office and Haley Jacobson, a registered nurse in St. Louis.

On the Republican side, eight candidates are competing. Jamie Corley and Valentina Gomez are making their first run for office. Here is a little background on the other six:

Mary Elizabeth Coleman is currently the state senator from District 22 — a part of Jefferson County. She has a mixed voting record on Liberty issues. Most notably she was the senate sponsor and handler of the IP reform bill this year. The Republican legislative leadership and grassroots citizen groups both made this bill their number one priority. Under her guidance, it failed to pass, and that is reason enough to not vote for Coleman.

Dean Plocher is the 2024 Speaker of the Missouri house. He has raised more money than any other SOS candidate. Plocher had an ethics investigation ongoing for months in the first half of 2024. The investigative committee disbanded citing a lack of evidence and a lack of cooperation from the speaker’s office. Chief House clerk Dana Miller filed suit against Plocher on May 31 accusing Speaker Dean Plocher of harassment and intimidation. “Nonpartisan staff in the legislative chamber work in a culture of fear,” Miller said at a news conference at a Jefferson City courthouse. (Missouri Independent) Plocher also made enemies of legislators from his own party who privately told me he made promises that were not kept. Plocher is a no vote for me.

Denny Hoskins represents District 21 in the Missouri Senate, covering east central Missouri. Hoskins is a CPA. He posted on X that he will “do everything I can to make sure our elections are safe & secure.” Hoskins wants to remove all vote counting machines and every ballot to be hand counted. He has a mixed voting record on liberty issues — the biggest concern being corporate welfare, aka tax credits and subsidies. He is on the bandwagon of taxing citizens to give money to businesses so long as they ‘promise’ to create jobs. Hoskins received the sole endorsement from Missouri Right to Life in this crowded race.

Mike Carter is a lawyer and journalist from the St Louis area. He worked as a municipal judge and now hosts the television show Justice and Journalism with Judge Mike Carter.

Adam J. Schwadron is a Missouri state representative from St Charles, Missouri. He is a small business owner and claims to be “the only practicing Jewish member of the legislature” He sponsored HR30 declaring Missouri’s support for Israel. Schwadron has the highest rating from the American Conservative Union among the four legislators running for SOS.

Shane Schoeller has served as Greene County clerk since 2014. His office is responsible for elections in his county. Prior to that Schoeller served as a state rep and became the speaker of the house in 2011 when the sitting speaker resigned. Schoeller has consistently opposed paperless voting machines. He worked on improving the security of our election laws as far back as 2010 when he fought for Voter ID laws and hand marked paper ballots. As a respected county clerk, he worked with legislators on the 2022 election reform bill, HB1878, that passed and was signed by Governor Parson. Schoeller opposes ballot drop boxes, supports citizen only voting, and has made local improvements to ensure transparency during elections.

We have some very good folks running for Missouri Secretary of State. On August 6, I will vote for Shane Schoeller.

Missouri voters will get to decide their parties’ candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, all 163 state reps, 17 of 34 state senators, and many local offices including sheriff on August 6.