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Eric Fey

Eric Fey

Director of Elections in St. Louis County, Missouri

Eric Fey is a lifelong resident of St. Louis County, Missouri, who fell in love with election administration as a teenage poll worker. He has worked in the field for a decade, and became director of elections in 2015. He’s on the executive board of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities, and has observed elections in twelve countries, including Ukraine, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.

Together, Brianna and Eric host the elections-administration podcast, https://www.kbia.org/podcast/high-turnout-wide-margins which launched in January, 2021. With 60 episodes (and counting), its focus has been on professional development for election administrators, offering valuable insight on how elections are run across the country.

  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey sit down to discuss the “kerfuffle” that has been the mid-decade redistricting process in Missouri.This process began last September — and even though the Missouri August primary is completed and absentee ballots for the November general election have already begun to go out — uncertainty still remains about which congressional maps Missouri local election administrators will use.Note: At the time that this episode is being produced — 7:00 p.m. on September 23, 2026 — the decision on Missouri’s congressional map is once again in the hands of the United State Supreme Court. To all of our listeners in Missouri, please check with your local election office for more information on your ballot.
  • Casandra Hockenberry worked at the Council of State Governments’ Center for Innovation, but is now serving as the Program and Policy Director for Advance Elections, a nonpartisan, elections-focused consulting firm.Casandra spoke about how election administrators can more effectively help overseas and military voters cast their absentee ballots, as well as the importance of consequence planning alongside emergency managers.
  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Jamie Fitzgerald. He’s served as the Auditor and Commissioner of Elections in Polk County, Iowa, since January 2007.They spoke about a unique technology his office has been using since 2025 — where his poll workers transmit their unofficial tallies back to the central office via QR code on election night.
  • Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Jared Marcotte. He’s the founder of The Turnout, a company that focuses on the intersection of technology, software and security in elections. They spoke about what motivated Marcotte to create The Turnout, as well as about the importance of election administrators being able to determine the safety and security of the non-voting system technology they use.
  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Ben Adida. He’s the co-founder and executive director of VotingWorks, a nonprofit organization that builds open-source voting equipment.They spoke about what an open-source system actually is, some of the challenges of getting new voting machines through the certification process, and about the overall health of the voting equipment ecosystem.This episode is part of a three-part series focused on election technology.
  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Scott Leiendecker. He’s the founder and CEO of KNOWiNK, an electronic poll pad system, and Liberty Vote, as well as a former Republican Elections Director for St. Louis City.They spoke about how Leiendecker’s election administration experience influenced his decision to enter the election vendor space, how he’s working to combat mis- and disinformation about election technology and about what he hopes is next for the industry.This episode is part of a three-part series focused on election technology.
  • Hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Tom Hicks. Hicks was a U.S. Election Assistance Commission [EAC] commissioner from January 2015 until July 9, 2026 — when he was notified via email that his position was “terminated, effective immediately.”
  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey interview their kids, then have the tables turned on them as the kids ask questions of the parents about elections and election administration.They spoke about… lots of things really, but definitely NOT politics.
  • In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Lauren Prather and Thad Kousser, the co-directors of the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections based at the University of California-San Diego.They spoke about some of the research they have done, which shows simple and effective ways for election administrators to connect with their constituents and grow trust in elections. This includes office tours, video office tours, simple and “authentic” social media videos and more.
  • Back in September, the High Turnout Wide Margins team traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the 2025 Summer Convening of the Partnership for Large Jurisdictions, or PLEJ.While there, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon had the opportunity to speak with election administrators from across the county and world. They also had the opportunity to take the stage for a special live taping with Carolina Lopez, the executive director of PLEJ.They spoke about the history of PLEJ, as well as how it has grown and benefited election administrators across the county. They also brought several members on stage — Zach Manifold of Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Kurt Bahr of St. Charles County, Missouri — to share how PLEJ has supported them in their work and how they have given back to the organization.