Todd Rokita

Theodore E. Rokita, known as Todd Rokita (born 1970), is the Republican Secretary of State of Indiana. When Rokita was elected to office in 2002 at the age of thirty-two, he became at the time the youngest Secretary of State in the United States. He had held no prior public office.

Rokita was reelected in 2006, having defeated the Democrat Joseph R. "Joe" Pearson of Hartford City. Rokita received 835,912 votes to Pearson's 746,460. Another 54,381 ballots were cast for the Libertarian candidate, Michael R. "Mike" Kole of Fishers. Pearson is a nephew of former State Senator Wayne Townsend, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 1984 and a long-time advocate of liberal causes in Indiana.

Rokita was elected by his peers nationally to serve on the nine-member federal Executive Board of the Election Assistance Commission. The Commission is charged by law to address election reform issues on a nation-wide basis. Rokita has testified about Indiana's voting reform efforts before the United States Congress.

Rokita is a named defendant in the Hoosier state's voter identification case which goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 9, 2008; the combined cases of "Crawford v. Marion County Election Board" (07-21) and "Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita" (07-25) involve the Indiana voting requirement law that is said to be among the most stringent in the nation. A decision is expected in summer 2008. Rokita has received national acclaim for defending the right of Hoosiers to have their votes count as the passage of photo identification legislation in 2005 has reduced the potential for vote fraud and voter disenfranchisement.

Rokita also serves as Indiana's chief securities fraud investigator. Rokita's office has closed hundreds of enforcement actions against violators of securities law, uncovered investor fraud scams, and helped secure numerous felony convictions and millions of dollars in restitution and fines.

As Secretary of State, Rokita visits each of Indiana's ninety-two counties at least once per year. Rokita was recently named as one of the "40 under 40" by the "Indianapolis Business Journal".

Rokita is a native of Munster, located in Lake County in Northwest Indiana. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he was an Eli Lilly Fellow. He has a law degree from Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. Prior to having joined the secretary of state's office in 1997, Rokita was a practicing attorney. He was first general counsel for the secretary of state, then deputy secretary of state, and thereafter secretary of state.

Rokita is active in the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and after serving as the elected treasurer, he is currently the President for the 2007-2008 term.

Rokita is a member of the Director's Circle of the Indiana Council for Economic Education, the state bar association, the Knights of Columbus, and the National Rifle Association. A commercial-rated pilot, Rokita volunteers his time by flying people in need of non-emergency medical care to hospitals and clinics throughout the Midwest for treatment and is a member of the Indiana chapter of the International Flying Farmers. Rokita has also served as Chair of NASS' New Millennium Young Voters Summit of 2004, chair of the standing Voter Participation Committee and vice chair of the Securities Regulation Committee.

Controversy

In April 2007, Rokita was discussing how 90 percent of African Americans vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?" Four days after making those remarks, he apologized. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/16/national/a124340D15.DTL&type=politics]

Worship

Todd and his wife, Kathy, worship at St. Mary Roman Catholic Parish in Indianapolis, and Todd is also a member of St. Thomas More Parish in Munster. The couple is expecting their first child in March 2008.

External links

* [http://www.in.gov/sos/ Indiana Secretary of State website]