Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his re-election campaign.

Ashcroft was first elected to the statewide post that monitors elections, securities and libraries in 2016. He’s running against Democrat Yinka Faleti, who recorded an episode of Politically Speaking earlier this year.

Since the four other Republicans running for statewide offices either ascended to or were appointed to their posts, Ashcroft is the only GOP hopeful running for a second term in the office he was elected to in 2016.

Here’s what Ashcroft discussed during the show:

• The complexities of overseeing elections during the COVID-19 era, which included having to move this year’s slate of municipal contests to June.
• A new law that expands absentee and mail-in voting this year. Ashcroft explained why he opposed the measure.
• Whether there should be changes to the ballot initiative petition process, specifically if there should be a higher threshold for constitutional amendments to go into effect. Currently, constitutional amendments only require a simple majority to pass.
• Some of the non-election parts of his job, including regulating securities and helping out local libraries.

Ashcroft is the son of John Ashcroft, who is the only Republican to ever be elected to two consecutive gubernatorial terms in office, and who also served as a U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General.

Jay Ashcroft first ran for office in 2014, where he lost to Democrat Jill Schupp in the race for the 24th District Senate seat. He came back two years later and won a competitive GOP primary before defeating Robin Smith by a wide margin to become secretary of state.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jay Ashcroft on Twitter: @jayashcroftmo

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