Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, wants to move to a different office. He is running for Missouri Secretary of State in 2024.
Hoskins is a certified public accountant. He served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2009-2016. In 2016, he was elected to serve in the Missouri Senate.
The term-limited state Senator might be best known for his opposition to bills this year that would have legalized sports betting in Missouri.
Why does Hoskins want to be the state’s top election officer?
“I just want to make sure that only U.S. citizens vote and only those people that are registered vote here in the state,” he said. “And so, that’s one of the reasons that I decided that Secretary of State would be the best fit for me as well. As you know, secretary’s office does a lot with local businesses and small businesses as far as getting them registered. And I want to see us work on streamlining that process.”
He wants to create an “Office of Election Integrity”.
“And have kind of a quick strike audit team task force,” said Hoskins. “Whether it’s Election Day, the day before the election day, the day after the election day, or days leading up to the election day, if there are anomalies and irregularities in the voting process, they can be dispatched to that poll center to see what’s going on.”
He said he supports the use of paper ballots and voting machines.
“It’s no secret that China, Russia would love to get a hold of our elections and one of the most easy way to do that is to sabotage the software and hack into those voting machines. And so, they do have a place but I have concerns about the software that’s being used,” said Hoskins.
Hoskins said he supported a 2022 law that bans ballot drop boxes and requires a photo ID to vote.
Other names possibly floating a run for the office are Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia and Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican, is running for governor.
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