By Adam Allington / St. Louis Public Radio
ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Secretary of State's office says Republican Ed Martin will have the opportunity to challenge the results of yesterday's election.
Martin lost to Democrat Russ Carnahan by about 4,400 votes.
Martin is alleging a variety of concerns, from ballot stuffing to mishandling of voter databases.
Laura Egerdal is a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State. She said that before any investigation takes place the election totals will have to be certified.
"Because we need to be certain about those vote totals first," Egerdal said, "That's why state law requires the certification process and then after the certification process is over, state law is pretty clear that any type of investigation into election irregularities would take place through the courts as an election contest."
Egerdal confirms that the database was unsearchable for part of the day, but said that there are many other ways to check registration status, and there were no reports of voters being unable to cast ballots.