The Missouri Board of State Canvassers, composed of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Judge Patricia Joyce and Judge Jon Beetem, certified the results Tuesday of the Nov. 3 general election. Missouri voters chose Donald Trump over Joe Biden, the winner of the race for president.
“With November’s results official, we are pleased to have completed another successful election cycle in unprecedented times in Missouri,” Ashcroft said in a news release. “The success of November’s election is thanks to the tireless effort of Missouri’s voters, election authorities and poll workers.”
Official results show 3,026,028 Missourians, 70.07 percent of registered voters, voted in the general election.
The certification process, set by Missouri statute, ensures every vote is counted and vote totals are accurate before the results are official. After Election Day, local officials have two weeks to verify vote totals and evaluate provisional ballots. The Secretary of State’s Office then has until the second Tuesday in December to validate the results reported by each of Missouri’s 116 local election authorities. The secretary of state and a panel of judges, comprising the Board of State Canvassers, then meet to certify the official results.
According to state law, any candidate for election to any office may challenge the accuracy of the returns for the office, charging that irregularities occurred. In addition, the law states the result of any election on any question may be contested by registered voters from the area in which the election was held. Any authorized person wishing to contest the election must do so no later than 30 days after the secretary of state officially announces the results. The process for contesting an election is detailed in state statutes 115.553-115.600 RSMo.
Official results from the November election, as well as previous elections, are available at enr.sos.mo.gov.
