JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s former election integrity director has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, claiming he was dismissed after warning officials about an alleged plan to submit a fabricated complaint in litigation involving the state’s voter registration database.
Nicholas La Strada, a Republican who previously served as Pettis County clerk, also alleges that Hoskins’ office improperly ordered local officials to revise the outcome of a city council election and spent public money on a politically focused mail campaign.
Hoskins’ spokeswoman, Anne Marie Moy, said the secretary of state could not address pending litigation tied to a personnel issue.
The allegations arrive as Hoskins is already under heightened attention over Missouri’s congressional redistricting dispute. Last Thursday, the Missouri Supreme Court temporarily held him in contempt for violating its directive not to move forward with newly drawn U.S. House districts supported by President Donald Trump for the November election. A day later, voters who signed the referendum petition seeking to place the new congressional map before voters in November sued Hoskins, pursuing class-action status and financial damages.
Although La Strada’s case does not concern redistricting, it raises new questions about Hoskins’ oversight of Missouri elections ahead of November.
“How can you trust a secretary of state’s office when they fired the man who was telling them what they cannot do,” said Erin N. Vernon of Independence, the lawsuit’s lead attorney.
Before joining the secretary of state’s office in January 2025, La Strada spent 14 years as Pettis County clerk, where he administered local elections. His lawsuit says that, within months of taking the election integrity director job, he lost administrative access to Missouri’s voter registration system. According to the filing, that action followed his objections to what he believed was an illegal use of public funds for mailers opposing a St. Louis County ballot measure.
The lawsuit further accuses Hoskins’ office of improperly stepping into an April municipal contest. Following certification of a tight Marshall City Council race in central Missouri, the office received a complaint concerning the count of write-in ballots, conducted its own recount and directed city officials to alter the result. La Strada contends that authority rests with a judge, not the secretary of state’s office.
“If you’ve done it once, what’s to stop them from doing it on bigger elections in November and coming right in and changing it to who they want, their preferred candidate,” Vernon said.
La Strada also says he witnessed an April discussion in which several Hoskins staff members considered using a “burner phone” and an internet protocol address scrambler to lodge a false whistleblower complaint in a federal administrative matter related to Missouri’s voter database. The lawsuit alleges that La Strada brought his concerns to Hoskins twice. His Capitol security badge was later deactivated ahead of a hearing in that case, and his firing took effect May 1, according to the suit.
The state election integrity director post remains vacant, Moy said.
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