Nick La Strada filed the lawsuit Monday, Sept. 14 in Cole County, accusing Hoskins of dismissing him as the Director of Election Integrity in May after he says he raised several issues involving the office’s conduct. Among La Strada’s claims in the lawsuit is that Hoskins and his office allegedly pressured the City of Marshall to accept a different outcome than what was initially certified in the ward three race for Marshall City Council this past April, which only had write-in candidates. La Strada says that the city was told that they, “would be investigated if they did not comply”, and that he told Hoskins that only a judge could change the outcome of the race.
KMMO News reported at the time that an e-mail from the Secretary of State’s office April 17 advised that Michael Varner had received the most write-in votes with 45, while Aaron Gibson had received 41. The office said that state statute allowed minor misspelling or other spelling variations which still clearly indicated voter intent, which resulted in six votes for “Mike Varner” and one vote for “M Varner” to count, along with two votes for alternate spellings of Aaron. The office concluded that the variations were appropriately included in the results certified earlier in the week by the Saline County Clerk’s office. Varner was among the council members sworn in April 23, after the council meeting initially scheduled for April 21 was postponed.
Also in his lawsuit, La Strada alleged that Hoskins and his staff...
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