When running for office, one of the first steps is to contact the Secretary of State’s office in the particular state to obtain filing documents and rules about elections.  Secretary of State means something different when it is the Secretary of State for a particular country.  For our purposes, we will focus on the role of Secretary of State for each of the United States plus Puerto Rico, Guam, USVI and Samoa.

Many Secretary of State offices handle business licensing and corporate services but their primary role is to oversee elections in their state.  There are currently 54 Secretaries of State and nearly all belong to the National Association of Secretaries of State.  Some Secretaries of State are appointed rather than elected and some do not serve as the chief election official in their state. For example, in New York, a state board of elections governs the election process under the direction of a board of commissioners.

Surprisingly, 19 women represent 38% of the total Secretaries of State.  There are 36 men currently serving.  31 Secretaries of State are Democrats and there are 23 Republicans. 

To contact the Secretary of State in your state:

Alabama

Beth Chapman  http://www.sos.state.al.us/

Alaska

Sean Parnell http://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/elections/homepage.html(907) 465-4611

American Somoa

Ipulsai Sunia  http://americansamoa.gov/

Arizona

Ken Bennett http://www.sosaz.com/election/ (602) 542-8683

Arkansas

Charlie Daniels http://www.sosweb.state.ar.us/elect(501) 682-5070

California

Debra Bowen http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htm (916) 657-2166

Colorado

Bernie Buescher http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/main.htm (303) 894-2200

Connecticut

Susan Bysiewicz http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/site/default.asp

Delaware

Jeffrey Bullock http://www.state.de.us/election (302) 739-4277

District of Columbia

Stephanie Scott http://www.dcboee.org/ (202) 727-2525

Florida

Kurt Browing http://election.dos.state.fl.us/ (850) 245-6200

Georgia

Karen Handel http://www.sos.state.ga.us/elections/ (404) 656-2871

Guam

Michael Cruz  http://www.guamltgovernor.org/

Hawaii

James Alona http://www.hawaii.gov/elections/(808) 453-8683

Idaho

Ben Ysursa http://www.idsos.state.id.us/elect/eleindex.htm (208) 334-2852

Illinois

Jesse White http://www.elections.state.il.us/ (217) 782-4141

Indiana

Todd Rotika http://www.state.in.us/sos/elections/ (317) 232-3939

Iowa

Michael Mauro http://www.sos.state.ia.us/(888) 767-8683

Kansas

Ron Thornburgh http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections.html (785) 296-4564

Kentucky

Trey Grayson http://www.kysos.com  (502) 573-7100

Louisiana

Jay Dardenne http://www.sec.state.la.us/elections/elections-index.htm (225) 219-9600

Maine

Matthew Dunlap http://www.state.me.us/sos/cec/elec/elec.htm (207) 624-7650

Maryland

John McDonough http://www.elections.state.md.us/ (800) 222-8683

Massachusetts

William Galvin  http://www.state.ma.us/sec/ele/eleidx.htm (800) 462-8683

Michigan

Terri Lynn Land http://www.michigan.gov/sos/(517) 373-2540

Minnesota

Mark Ritchie http://www.sos.state.mn.us/election/index.html(877) 600-8683

Mississippi

Delbert Hosemann http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/elections.asp   (800) 829-6786

Missouri

Robin Carnahan  http://www.sos.state.mo.us/elections/ (573) 751-2301

Montana

Linda McCulloch http://sos.state.mt.us/css/ELB/Contents.asp(888) 884-8683

Nebraska

John Gale http://www.nol.org/home/SOS/Elections/election.htm (402) 471-3229

Nevada

Ross Miller http://sos.state.nv.us/nvelection/(775) 684-5705

New Hampshire

William Gardner http://www.sos.nh.gov/index.html(603) 271-3242

New Jersey

Nina Mitchel Wells http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/electionshome.html(609) 292-3760

New Mexico

Mary Herrera http://www.sos.state.nm.us/elect.htm (800) 477-3632

New York

Board of Elections http://www.elections.state.ny.us/INDEX.html  (518) 474-1953

North Carolina

Elaine Marshall http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/(919) 733-7173

North Dakota

Alvin Jaeger http://www.state.nd.us/sec/Elections/Elections.htm(800) 352-0867

Ohio

Jennifer Brunner http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos//elections/index.html(614) 466-2585

Oklahoma

Susan Savage http://www.state.ok.us/%7Eelections/(405) 521-2391

Oregon

John Lindback http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/elechp.htm(503) 986-1518

Pennsylvania

Pedro Cortes http://www.dos.state.pa.us/DOS/site/default.asp (717) 787-5280

Puerto Rico

Kenneth McClintock http://www.ceepur.net/(787) 777-8682

Rhode Island

Ralph Mollis http://www2.corps.state.ri.us/ELECTIONS/elections_division.htm (401) 222-2345

South Carolina

Mark Hammond http://www.state.sc.us/scsec/(803) 734-9060

South Dakota

Chris Nelson http://www.sdsos.gov/ (605) 773-3537

Tennessee

Tre Hargett http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election.htm (615) 741-7956

Texas

Esperanza Hope Andrade http://www.sos.state.tx.us/ (512) 463-5600

U.S. Virgin Islands

Gregory Francis http://ltg.gov.vi/

Utah

Gary Herbert http://elections.utah.gov/ (801)538-1041

Vermont

Deb Markowitz http://www.sec.state.vt.us/ 802-828-2363

Virginia

Katherine Hanley http://www.soc.state.va.us/ (804) 786-2441

Washington

Sam Reed http://www.secstate.wa.gov/ 

West Virginia

Natalie Tennant http://www.wvsos.com/ (304) 558-8000

Wisconsin 

Douglass LaFollette  http://www.sos.state.wi.us/  608-266-8888

Wyoming

Max Maxfield  http://soswy.state.wy.us/  307.777.7378