Ohio Secretary of State

Seal of the Ohio Secretary of State

sticker passed out to Ohio voters

The Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing elections in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of State also is responsible for registering business entities (corporations, etc.) and granting them the authority to do business within the state, registering secured transactions, and granting access to public documents.

From 1803 to 1851, the Ohio Secretary of State was elected by the Ohio General Assembly to a three-year term. The 1851 Ohio Constitution made the office elective, with a two-year term. In 1954, the office's term was extended to four years. The Secretary of State is elected in even-numbered, off cycle years, (no Presidential elections), after partisan primary elections.

2004 Registration and Voting Controversy

The State of Ohio's electoral votes were pivotal in the 2004 Presidential election result, and numerous questions arose concerning registration, election, and vote counting in Ohio. One of the charges raised was that of "voter suppression," a term for discouraging or impeding people from voting. ^[1]

For example, Representative Dennis Kucinich asserted that:

Dirty tricks occurred across the state, including phony letters from Boards of Elections telling people that their registration through some Democratic activist groups were invalid and that Kerry voters were to report on Wednesday because of massive voter turnout. Phone calls to voters giving them erroneous polling information were also common.^[2]

2008 Registration and Voting Controversy

Ohio election law created a five-day window (from September 30, 2008, through October 6, 2008) during which a voter may both register to vote and simultaneously cast an absentee ballot. On August 13, 2008, the Secretary of State issued Directive 2008-63, which directed county boards of elections to develop procedures for same-day registration and the issuance of absentee ballots at the time of registration. Several lawsuits were filed in conjunction with this Directive. The first suit was an original mandamus action against the Secretary filed on September 12, 2008, in the Ohio Supreme Court that challenged Directive 2008-63. See State ex rel. Colvin v. Brunner, No. 2008-1813. This was followed by an action brought by a different group of plaintiffs in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. See Project Vote v. Madison County Bd. of Elections, No. 1:08-cv-2266. That suit sought named the Madison County Board of Elections as a defendant because it had indicated that it would not enforce Directive 2008-63 to allow same-day registration and absentee balloting. The third case was filed in the Southern District of Ohio on September 26, 2008, by the Ohio Republican Party and Larry Wolpert against the Secretary of State. No. 08-00913. In a decision dated on September 30, 2008, in Appeal Nos. 08-4242, 08-4243, and 08-4251, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision effectively rejecting the challenges to Directive 2008-63 and denying injunctive relief.^[3] The Court of Appeals reportedly issued an en banc Order in Case No. 08-4322, Ohio Republican Party v. Jennifer Brunner, on October 14, 2008, but the decision cannot be accessed from the court's website ^[4] until October 15, 2008.

List of Ohio Secretaries of State

Term	Secretary of State	Party	Image	notes
1803–1808	William Creighton, Jr.	Democratic-Republican
1808–1831	Jeremiah McLene	Democratic
1831–1835	Moses H. Kirby	Whig
1835–1836	Benjamin B. Hinkson	Democratic
1836–1840	Carter B. Harlan	Democratic		died
1840–1841	William Trevitt	Democratic
1841–1844	John Sloane	Whig
1844–1850	Samuel Galloway	Whig
1850–1852	Henry W. King	Free Soil
1852–1856	William Trevitt (2nd)	Democratic
1856–1858	James H. Baker	Republican
1858–1862	Addison P. Russell	Republican
1862	Benjamin R. Cowen	Republican		resigned
1862–1863	Wilson S. Kennon	Republican
1863–1865	William W. Armstrong	Democratic
1865–1868	William Henry Smith	Republican		resigned
1868–1869	John Russell	Republican
1869–1873	Isaac R. Sherwood	Republican
1873–1875	Allen T. Wikoff	Republican
1875–1877	William Bell, Jr.	Democratic
1877–1881	Milton Barnes	Republican
1881–1883	Charles Townsend	Republican
1883–1885	James W. Newman	Democratic
1885–1889	James Sidney Robinson	Republican
1889–1891	Daniel J. Ryan	Republican		resigned
1891–1893	Christian L. Poorman	Republican
1893–1897	Samuel M. Taylor	Republican
1897–1901	Charles Kinney	Republican
1901–1907	Lewis C. Laylin	Republican
1907–1911	Carmi Thompson	Republican
1911–1915	Charles H. Graves	Democratic
1915–1917	Charles Quinn Hildebrant	Republican
1917–1919	William D. Fulton	Democratic
1919–1923	Harvey C. Smith	Republican
1923–1927	Thad H. Brown	Republican
1927–1933	Clarence J. Brown Sr.	Republican
1933-1936	George S. Myers	Democratic
1936–1939	William J. Kennedy	Democratic
1939–1940	Earl Griffith	Republican		died
1940–1941	George M. Neffiner	Republican
1941–1943	John E. Sweeney	Democratic
1943–1949	Edward J. Hummel	Republican
1949–1951	Donald K. Zoller	Republican
1951–1979	Ted W. Brown	Republican
1979–1983	Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.	Democratic
1983–1991	Sherrod Brown	Democratic
1991–1999	Robert A. Taft II	Republican
1999–2007	J. Kenneth Blackwell	Republican
2007—2011	Jennifer L. Brunner	Democratic
2011—	Jon A. Husted	Republican

See also

• Election Results, Ohio Secretary of State

References

1. ^ The New York Times. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/Brennan_Center_Report_Voter_Purges.pdf. 
2. ^ http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1110-31.htm
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ [2]

External links

• Ohio Secretary of State