In his amended petition, Roland argues that once a ballot is placed in a box or filled out electronically, it becomes impossible to challenge, because it is no longer connected to the voter. Ballots contain no information identifying the voter.

For about a month, Roland has raised concerns about the potential abuse of absentee voting by Hubbard’s campaign, arguing that election results over time show a spike in absentee votes when a member of the Hubbard family — a local political dynasty — runs for office.

Shortly after the Aug. 2 primary, the Post-Dispatch obtained records revealing that in dozens of instances, voters in the race in question had submitted duplicate absentee ballot applications. Some of the voters said they did not fill out two applications, and they did not understand why another had been filled out in their name.

The paper has also reviewed ballot envelopes and applications at the Election Board offices. Of the roughly 550 ballot envelopes containing ballots counted on Election Day, 88 were not postmarked — indicating that they likely were hand-delivered.

Missouri law requires that any ballots hand-delivered to the board come from the voter or a second-degree relative — such as a spouse, parent or grandparent.