RICHMOND – Having worked on the front lines as a longtime election official, and now as a Republican state representative, Peggy McGaugh is leery about claims of widespread election fraud.

Although more than 60 court cases and sworn testimony from election officials have failed to show widespread, outcome-changing election fraud, lawmakers in several states have passed or are considering laws to make voting more difficult, including in Missouri. Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar, has aided a high school math teacher alleging he discovered “secret algorithms” to prove election rigging. Kelley filed a bill that includes creating an “election integrity committee” to do post-election audits.

McGaugh said that, for 30 years as a county clerk and chief election officer, she monitored elections closely.

“I like to think I ran a tight ship in elections in Carroll County and in fact received awards and accolades recognizing that over the years. Occasionally, we would receive an absentee ballot back in the mail or returned by a family member that I questioned,” she stated, but never found a need to press charges. “Please don’t get me wrong, fraud one time or 100 times is still diluting the legal votes cast and not to be ignored.”

If someone intentionally casts a fraudulent vote, McGaugh said the courts should make an example of that person to dissuade others.

With virtually no fraud evident anywhere in the state, she said questioning voting integrity is the bigger issue.

“The largest level of concern I have currently here in Missouri is the onslaught of accusations made about election authorities not effectively running their offices and the constant planting of seeds of doubt to the voters that our elections can’t be trusted, leading to them discontinue voting and voter participation being adversely affected unnecessarily,” she said.

McGaugh serves as vice chairwoman of the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee. She said she favors stopping election fraud and she prefiled election integrity bills for the legislative session after having worked with the Secretary of State’s Office and other election authorities to address fact-based issues.

“We need to look at facts and make any appropriate changes based on evidence to ensure Missourians know their vote counts,” she stated. “I urge fellow citizens to report any election fraud they might witness to their local county clerks, or board of elections or Missouri secretary of state. If a problem exists, you can help by passing on factual information for an investigation.”