On July 19, 2024, we released an educational video detailing the Verification Board’s critical role in Missouri elections, a key component of election security whether votes are counted by machine or by hand. As outlined in Missouri state law, the Verification Board ensures accuracy by overseeing election results at the county level—a process that’s become increasingly vital amid growing concerns over election integrity.

In Missouri’s current system, election judges work the polls on voting day, managing ballot collection. After polls close, bipartisan teams—also election judges—handle tasks to finalize results, often relying on voting machines. However, few counties use hand counting due to strong resistance, despite its potential for transparency. Once results are tabulated, the Verification Board is convened to check for accuracy. In counties where the election authority is a county clerk, the Board consists of members from the two major political parties (Republican and Democrat), ensuring balanced oversight. In counties with a Board of Elections, those Board members automatically serve as the Verification Board.

For three years, Return to Hand Counting has advocated for stricter adherence to these Verification Board statutes, as election processes have grown alarmingly sloppy. Many clerks, trained to simply ‘turn machines on or off,’ lack the skills to manage complex voting systems, leading to errors—like one clerk who failed to upload results from a USB drive, blaming it on a printer toner issue (despite toner-covered hands having no bearing on the task). To combat this, we’ve designed Excel worksheets to check election results—whether machine or hand-counted—uncovering errors and pushing for accountability. The Verification Board’s true purpose isn’t just to rubber-stamp machine results; it’s to verify accuracy and restore trust in our elections.

While rooted in Missouri law, this approach offers a model for any state seeking to secure elections. Watch the video below to learn how the Verification Board can ensure accuracy, no matter the counting method: