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FBI, federal prosecutors report no major Election Day problems in Kansas, Missouri
U.S. attorneys and law enforcement agents in Kansas and Missouri remained on standby at their offices during Tuesday’s mid-term election but did not have any problems to report on election day, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Matt Price, U.S. Attorney for Kansas Ryan Kriegshauser, and FBI-Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Chris Ormerod.
The three high-ranking federal officials spoke together in an exclusive interview on Wednesday with KMBC 9 Investigates on a range of topics related to child sex crimes, fraud, and election security.
“Just little things here and there, but nothing systemic,” Kriegshauser said of election issues in Kansas.
On Tuesday, Kriegshauser announced a federal grand jury indictment of a Kansas postal worker for stealing thousands of pieces of mail, including hundreds of political mailings that were all related to Republican Party candidates.
Kriegshauser also said his office received recent complaints of people giving gift cards to vote or to register to vote.
“You can’t do that,” he said. “You can’t pay someone a financial benefit for their vote or to register to vote.”
The League of Women Voters of Leavenworth County recently received a cease-and-desist letter from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach for complaints about receiving gift cards to register.
Kobach referred the report to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas.
As of now, no charges have been announced.
KMBC sent an email seeking comment to the League of Women Voters on Wednesday afternoon, but did not immediately hear back.
Price, of the Western District of Missouri, referenced three prosecutions of foreign nationals that voted in previous elections or registered to vote in elections.
“That was all sort of backward-looking conduct,” he said. “But as of yesterday, knock on wood, as far as I know, things went pretty smoothly.”
Ormerod said the FBI-Kansas City field office had a command post set up at its office to monitor election problems to follow through on the bureau’s commitment to protect elections.
“We had agents here, obviously not at polling places, but ready, on standby, ready to go in case we heard of something,” he said. “And, thankfully, we did not.”
The federal leaders said they are always taking any tips about voting irregularities.
You can visit the official FBI Tips Portal to report. If you have any tips about voter discrimination or civil rights violations, contact the Department of Justice Civil Rights Reporting Portal.
