John Robert "Jay" Ashcroft (born July 12, 1973) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 40th Secretary of State of Missouri from 2017 to 2025.

Ashcroft was a candidate in the 2024 Missouri gubernatorial election, but came in third place in the primary against State Senator Bill Eigel and Lt.

As Secretary of State, Ashcroft wrote ballot summaries for initiatives seeking to reverse the Missouri ban on abortions.

In his view, Ashcroft's summaries did not fairly represent the purposes or effect and lacked reference to alternative reproductive care mentioned in the initiatives.

[17] The type of voter fraud that would be addressed through Ashcroft's preferred legislation, which critics say suppresses turnout,[18] is extremely rare.

[25] In March 2023, Ashcroft announced that he is withdrawing Missouri from Electronic Registration Information Center, a bipartisan system to update and improve the accuracy of voter rolls.

[26] His office declined to share reports from the decision or cyber security reviews on elections with the state auditor, leading to a "fair" rating in an audit released in February 2024.

[33] Ashcroft told the National Review that the bill is aimed to counter a Biden veto on federal ESG laws.

The proposal details procedures and processes each library would be required to implement in order to continue receiving state funding.

[35] In response to backlash, Ashcroft described the state-wide rules as a move toward "local control" and said "I'm not the one making a big deal about this.

"[36] The implementation of Ashcroft's rule has been described as "mass confusion" for libraries as they attempt to comply with restrictions that could be interpreted broadly.