A familiar name at the Missouri Capitol is seeking the GOP nomination for Missouri secretary of state in 2024.
Former Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Shane Schoeller (R-Willard) spoke at this week’s Boone County Lincoln Days event in Columbia. The Willard Republican narrowly lost to Democrat Jason Kander in the 2012 secretary of state’s race. Mr. Kander, who was also a state representative at the time, won by 39,000 votes.
“And the best part about it is that after I lost that race I had the opportunity to become the county clerk in Greene County and really get an opportunity to come alongside the people that work in the Greene County clerk’s office, I call them my team, and really understand election administration and what it takes to make sure that every election that we administer is going to be secure, (is) going to be accurate, (is) going to be fair,” Schoeller says.
Schoeller is now in his third term as Greene County’s clerk. He tells 939 the Eagle that he wants to protect voter ID and to protect paper ballots. Schoeller also supports signature verification.
“You know when I was in the (state) Legislature, I supported voter ID, sponsored that legislation, voted for that every time it came up on the floor. And paper ballots has always been extremely important to me because I want voters to know that if they have any concerns in terms of the integrity of the election, that we can go to that paper ballot and we can have bipartisan election judge teams that can count those paper ballots,” says Schoeller.
While he narrowly lost the 2012 race to Kansas, Scheller carried more than 90 of Missouri’s 114 counties. Kander’s margins in St. Louis City and County, Kansas City, Boone County and southeast Missouri put him over the top. Mr. Kander carried nine southeast Missouri counties that year, including four in the deep-red Bootheel.
Mr. Schoeller briefly served as Missouri House Speaker, between the tenures of Speaker Steven Tilley (R-Perryville) and Tim Jones (R-Eureka).
Filing for Missouri secretary of state begins in February.
