Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said he has kept a campaign promise and has removed more than 18,000 dead voter names from the state’s voter rolls. He told Missourinet that the process involves working with local election authorities and county clerks.

“You know, one of the things we look for is deceased voter rolls,” he explained. “Since January 13, we’ve helped local election authorities identify over 18,000 deceased individuals using records from the Social Security Administration as well as the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.”

Hoskins, a Republican, said he wants to make sure every vote that is cast is “legitimate.”

“Our ultimate goal is trying to get the voter rolls as good a shape as possible and then working with (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary (Kristi) Noem as well as the Homeland Security Team to compare our list of voter rolls with the list of noncitizens in the United States,” Hoskins said.

It’s part of Hoskins’ election security initiative he campaigned on, pledging to make sure non-citizens cannot vote in Missouri elections. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Missouri and voters passed a constitutional amendment last November clarifying that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in Missouri elections.

The Republican also said auditing the voter rolls regularly saves money.

“They’re not going to be receiving mail and things that are reminding them of going to vote or where their new polling location is as well,” he said. “We’ve not identified how much of a savings that is yet, but most certainly there will be a savings to the state of Missouri, as well as to the counties and other election authorities.”

According to state law , county clerks and local election authorities are required to verify and audit their voter rolls for people who died, moved out of the district, or, in certain cases, can no longer vote (felony conviction). However, Hoskins said state law does not specify how often the audits should happen.