Start Here
Donate

Actual Vote in Missouri

Access poll tapes after election night

Information current as of October 2026

This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in Missouri for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.

Missouri doesn’t post poll tapes at the polling place. At close, the tabulator prints a reconciliation tape that “shall be transported to the election authority” (15 CSR 30-10.150); nothing is displayed for the public, and the results travel to the county on a sealed USB drive. Watchers may observe the closing but have no right to photograph or copy the tape, and challengers must leave when polls close. (A verbal “announce in a loud voice” step exists only in the small number of hand-count paper-ballot precincts.) So recording isn’t an option at the precinct — instead, compare your county’s online precinct results and the Secretary of State’s results portal, and you can request the precinct statement of returns under the Sunshine Law. Expect pushback on the tapes themselves: in August 2026 Henry County denied a request for its poll tapes, citing § 115.493.

Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. See our most recent Missouri report for what Actual Vote users found. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.

Poll closing time in Missouri: 7 p.m. Anyone still in line at closing time is entitled to vote, so the closing procedure — and the tape — can run later.

Get the app How Actual Vote works See an example analysis

This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in Missouri as of October 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.

If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in Missouri is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.

Your ways to participate in Missouri

See how the six ways to help compare →

  1. 1

    Record posted tapes at polling placesNot available in Missouri

    Nothing is posted at the polling place on election night in Missouri; tapes become available afterwards (use cases 5 and 6).

  2. 2

    Be there at the close or observe the countNot available in Missouri

    The public can’t watch the close in Missouri; tapes become available after election night (use cases 5 and 6).

  3. 3

    Record early-voting tapes

    Missouri counts absentee ballots on election day at a central location (RSMo 115.299). Some counties, like Boone, have no-excuse absentee voters feed their ballots straight into tabulators, which are read on election night. Who may watch, and whether tapes are shown, isn’t set out. In 2024 about 28% of ballots were cast early in person (EAC election survey). Call your county elections office ahead of time and ask where and when the early-voting tapes will be printed, and whether you may observe and video-record them. If they don’t have a plan to show them, you can politely ask them to display the tapes.

    See a detailed example of recording early-voting tapes, based on Cobb County, Georgia.

  4. 4

    Become a poll worker or observer

    Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you at the source and lets you see the count firsthand. In this state, though, the rules bar recording the tape in that role (see the note on this page), so it’s a way to help the count run well rather than a way to record.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.

    Sign up to be a poll worker →

  5. 5

    Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office

    Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.

    Email/phone script — book an appointment at your Missouri county elections office
    To: [your county] County elections office
    Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes

    Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.

    We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.

    Everything on these tapes is public records under the Missouri Sunshine Law (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.023), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]

    Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  6. 6

    File a public-records request for poll-tape images

    Poll tapes are public records under the Missouri Sunshine Law. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.

    Public-records request email — Missouri precinct reconciliation tapes
    To: [your county] election authority
    Re: Public records request — [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election] results tapes, [your county]

    Dear [County] Election Authority,

    Under the Missouri Sunshine Law, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.023, I'm requesting copies of public election records — specifically the precinct-level reconciliation tapes (also called "poll tapes" or "tabulator tapes") and the corresponding statements of returns showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals, meeting the following criteria:

    • From Missouri's [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election]
    • From all precincts in [your county]
    • For each voting method your election authority tabulates — Election Day, Absentee, and any other mail or in-person absentee category counted separately. I understand Missouri's tabulators print a reconciliation tape at close that is transported to the election authority rather than posted at the polling place, so I'm asking for whatever precinct-level tape, statement of returns, or summary report your office retains from that process
    • The tapes/statements showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals — I don't need the zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
    • If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tape exists), simply omit it

    Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records, and the totals they show are already in the official published results. They'll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it's non-partisan, at Start Here.

    If you must redact anything beyond precinct name, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.

    Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I'd be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.

    Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

Live near a state line? Consider crossing it.

Missouri makes election-night recording hard — but these neighbors post a results tape right on the outside of the polling place: Kentucky or Oklahoma. If you live near the border, a short drive across it can be the highest-value Actual Vote move of the night. Honest caveat: a tape you record there verifies that state’s precinct, not your own — it complements your in-state options, it doesn’t replace them.

See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.

Heads up: Missouri restricts on-site recording of the tape. Don’t record where it isn’t allowed — rely on official results and the post-election records route instead.

Example Actual Vote Recordings

We don’t have any recordings from Missouri yet — you could be the first! Here are some example poll tape videos by Actual Vote users in other states, all taken during scheduled visits to an elections office. America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. See our Missouri report for an example of what that comparison produces.

Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.

How we know this — and how you can check it

This reflects America Counts’s primary-source review of Missouri’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance, most recently updated in October 2026; the summary at the top of this page and the early-voting card link the provisions it relies on. Procedures can still vary locally, so the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Tell us and we’ll verify it and fix the page.

Find your county's election website

County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], Missouri elections" if a link 404s.

Ready to help?

Join the nationwide team independently double-checking how votes are reported — starting in Missouri.

Get the app Make your plan Get involved