A St. Louis woman who’s spent time in Washington and who now runs a non-profit group is running for Missouri Secretary of State.
Jamie Corley, who is seeking the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s primary, told Missourinet that her “lived experiences” are quite relevant to the job of Secretary of State.
“My experience working at the top levels of government, in the U.S. Senate and in the U.S. House and at very prestigious conservative think tanks, and really being part of the conservative movement for the past decade,” she said.
Corley worked for various members of Congress before returning to Missouri. She also touts her experience of writing and sponsoring ballot initiatives as giving her unique insight into that part of the job. She told Missourinet that the Secretary of State has a duty to use “fair and balanced language” when writing initiatives that will appear on election ballots.
“If a group presents ballot language that clearly is favorable to tipping the scales in their favor, well that’s going to get edited,” she told Missourinet. “It needs to be fair and balanced.”
She said it’s also wrong for a sitting Secretary of State to write ballot language designed to influence voters to defeat it, something that current and past secretaries of state have been accused of. Corley recently sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban to allow exceptions for rape and incest. She withdrew it after a rival, better funded, abortion ballot initiative gained traction.
Corley briefly lived in California between her Washington and St. Louis stints.
“I can tell you, having run businesses in California and elsewhere, a poorly run Secretary of State’s office can make your life miserable,” she said. “And (it can be) much more expensive to run a small business if you end up having to pay someone else, a compliance person or a lawyer, to actually go through those processes.”
Corley said she also wants to update Missouri’s voter rolls, protect the state’s photo voter ID law, and make sure that only U.S. citizens get to vote in Missouri elections. She supports preserving the use of paper ballots that are tabulated by machines that are not connected to the Internet.
Corley is facing seven other Republicans in the Secretary of State primary: Shane Schoeller, Adam Schwadron, Dean Plocher, Denny Hoskins, Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Mike Carter, and Valentina Gomez. Three Democrats are running: Haley Jacobson, Barb Phifer, and Monique Williams. Carl Herman Freese is the Libertarian nominee.
Beginning at 7:30 p.m. on August 6th, Missourinet will have reports about election night results at the top and bottom of the hour on Missourinet.com.
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