1:34 pm 09/14/26: This article has been updated to provide more details about the allegations contained in the lawsuit.
A former top elections official is accusing Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins of changing local election results, trying to deceive a federal judge in a voting administration case and illegally using state funds to influence a St. Louis County election.
Nick La Strada, whom Hoskins fired as director of election integrity in May, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed Monday in Cole County. His attorneys said he sued because he could not keep quiet about the way Hoskins is running Missouri elections.
“In essence, defendant office, by the actions of defendant Hoskins, fired the director of election integrity for having too much integrity,” the lawsuit states.
Hoskins was elected in 2024 and hired La Strada in January 2025. La Strada was Pettis County clerk at the time, a post he had won in four consecutive elections. In the news release announcing the appointment, Hoskins praised La Strada for his experience in local, state and international elections.
His “extensive experience in election administration makes him the ideal choice for this important position,” Hoskins said at the time.
The way Hoskins ran the office tested La Strada’s loyalty to his party and the law, said Erin Vernon, who is serving as La Strada’s attorney.
“This was not an easy decision for Mr. La Strada,” Vernon said. “He is a loyal Republican to the very end, except the one thing he will not put the party above is fair and equal safe elections for all. He couldn’t be quiet and had to stand up for what was right, and it didn’t take long for Mr. Hoskins to show him the door.”
La Strada did not attend the news conference with his attorneys outside the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City. He is overseas working as a U.S. Long-Term Election Observer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, deployed through Amentum’s Seconded Personnel and Election Observers program on behalf of the State Department.
It is the second lawsuit filed against Hoskins in recent days over his actions in office. Five Missouri voters also sued Hoskins last week, alleging he violated a state law that provides monetary damages when an officeholder “neglect[s] or refuse[s] to perform any of the duties enjoined on him by law.”
Through spokeswoman Anne Marie Moy, Hoskins declined to comment on either lawsuit.
The lawsuit makes three major allegations against Hoskins and the team he assembled to run the office that manages Missouri’s elections and voter database, business registration services and other duties.
One, identified by La Strada’s attorneys as the immediate cause of his dismissal, involves an alleged attempt to fabricate a complaint for use in a federal inquiry under the Help America Vote Act into allegations that data sources on the number of votes cast in 2024 did not agree.
On April 14, U.S. District Judge Doug Harpool of the Western District of Missouri ordered Hoskins’ office to hold an administrative hearing in the case. He ordered La Strada to appear in person.
The next day, the lawsuit alleges, Hoskins’ then-Chief of Staff Matt Alsager called Brandon Alexander, chief of staff for State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, on speakerphone from a meeting with La Strada, Deputy General Counsel Jackie Bryant and Director of Elections Chrissy Peters.
“During this meeting, the participants, excluding plaintiff La Strada, discussed fabricating a false whistleblower submission to offer as evidence about the Missouri Centralized Voter Registration system, to be routed through an ‘IP scrambler’ and a ‘burner’ phone so the source could not be traced, to be offered as evidence,” the lawsuit states.
After La Strada reported the conversation to Hoskins, his access badge for the Capitol Building was disabled. He was able to enter, but according to the lawsuit, Alsager told him at the door to the hearing that his presence wasn’t needed.
LaStrada went anyway and testified. The next day, he was told not to come into work the following Monday and that he had to meet with Hoskins on Tuesday. At that meeting, Hoskins fired La Strada, effective May 1.
The lawsuit says La Strada was fired for his “questioning, reporting and/or complaining of violations of voting laws and regulations, campaign laws and regulations, violations of the Secretary of State’s rules and policies, speaking up in opposition to defendants’ abuse of power and authority and mismanagement, and testifying in the federal HAVA hearing.”
The other two specific incidents described in the lawsuit involve local elections.
In one, La Strada alleges, Hoskins ordered a retabulation of write-in votes in a city election in Marshall after a complaint about this year’s April election. The election had been certified and a winner named by a single vote.
After a complaint, Hoskins ordered the votes retabulated, resulting in a different winner, and threatened city officials if they did not comply. La Strada said that exceeded Hoskins’ authority because only a judge can order a recount of votes after certification.
In the other, La Strada said he warned Hoskins in April 2025 that using public funds for an anti-Proposition B mailer appeared to be an election offense. Proposition B was a St. Louis County issue that would have altered the power over department head appointments in county governments. It was defeated.
Vernon, at the news conference, noted that Hoskins has not hired a new director of election integrity since La Strada was fired.
“That’s a very big problem heading into elections,” Vernon said, “and they’ve shown they don’t want someone telling them what they can’t do and what the law in fact is.”
The Missouri Independent originally published this story.
