State elections director fulfilled by helping Missouri voters

Chrissy Peters poses at the State Information Center where the Missouri Secretary of State's Office is housed. Peters is the Elections Director with the Missouri Secretary of State's Office. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)
Chrissy Peters poses at the State Information Center where the Missouri Secretary of State's Office is housed. Peters is the Elections Director with the Missouri Secretary of State's Office. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)

Chrissy Peters is no stranger to public service.

"It's when you can be a part of a phone call that helps maybe a teenager register to vote for the first time or a person who has moved into a county and they need to know where to go vote -- I get fulfillment in my career by helping people," she said.

Peters is the elections director with the Missouri secretary of state's office. She leads a seven-person division and is the office's point-person for local election authorities.

A Jefferson City native, Peters has spent her entire professional life working for the state of Missouri. She's been with the secretary of state's office since 2008, but prior to that, she worked for the Missouri Ethics Commission and Missouri Gaming Commission. In total, she's been serving the state for more than two decades.

She was part of the secretary of state's efforts to implement online voter registration and stand up the military and overseas portal for military voters.

Her day-to-day work, however, is "very administrative."

"It's not glamorous," she said with a laugh. "We could be doing anything from removing staples from papers all the way to certifying official election results or doing election night reporting."

This time of year is extremely busy, Peters said.

Following the August primary elections, election officials throughout the state are working to prepare ballots ahead of the November general election.

And the state is implementing a sweeping election law passed by the General Assembly this year, which requires photo ID to vote, adds two weeks of no-excuse absentee voting and ends Missouri's presidential primary, among a slew of other measures.

Peters is working with Missouri's 116 local election authorities to carry out the law. St. Louis will be the first to use the new law as a special election is set for Sept. 13, and Peters is planning to visit a polling location in the area the day of the election.

The Secretary of State's Office has kicked off a campaign to bring attention to the new election law ahead of the general election. Peters said it will largely focus on ensuring voters are aware they will need a photo ID to vote, and that they know the Secretary of State's Office can provide a non-driver's license for free.

Peters said she recognizes the more politicized perception surrounding election workers that has cropped up in recent years, but she's been doing the work for the past 14 years and always returns back to the laws on the books.

"I don't bring any politics into our day-to-day administering of elections," she said. "And I'm fortunate to work for a secretary that does allow our division to do what we are responsible for doing for administering elections.

"We deal with difficult phone callers every day, but we always go back to the administration side. Here's what is in place to secure elections. Here's what's in place to ensure that there's integrity. Here's what's in place to make sure that election results are accurate and we're double checking any type of tabulation."

During years in which there are no statewide elections, Peters and her team are still assisting local election authorities administer municipal elections and supporting the statewide voter registration database.

The specific work depends on what's happening at the time, she said. There could be an off-year referendum election, new election laws to implement or training to offer local election authorities.

The wide range of work keeps it engaging and challenging, she said.

"It's just something that really, it just pulls you in," Peters said.

She said she takes the work day by day, but it doesn't feel like work.

"I know that when I get off the phone with somebody, they are doing an action that is our constitutional right," Peters said. "That really is just why I don't know if I'll ever be able to walk away from it."