Secretary of state of
the State of Kansas
Seal of the secretary of state of Kansas
Incumbent
Scott Schwab
since January 14, 2019
Inaugural holderJohn Winter Robinson
FormationFebruary 1861
Websitesos.kansas.gov

The secretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kansas. The current secretary of state is the former speaker pro tempore of the Kansas House of Representatives, Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on January 14, 2019.[1]

History

The first secretary of state for Kansas was John Winter Robinson, a physician originally from Litchfield, Maine, but who had settled in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1857. Robinson was elected in December 1859, in anticipation of statehood for Kansas, and sworn in after Kansas was admitted to the Union in February 1861.[2]

As a result of a bond scandal, Robinson was impeached on February 26, 1862, along with the governor, Charles L. Robinson, and state auditor, George S. Hillyer. Robinson was convicted by the Kansas Senate on June 12, 1862, and removed from his office, becoming the first state executive branch official to be impeached and removed from office in U.S. history. Hillyer was also removed from office, on June 16, but Governor Robinson was acquitted. Sanders R. Shepard succeeded to the job of secretary of state on July 28, 1862.[2]

In 2015, Secretary Kris Kobach requested and was granted by the Kansas Legislature prosecutorial power in voter fraud cases. In October that year, he filed his first three-vote fraud cases dealing with voting in two states.[3]

Duties

Electoral

The secretary of state is the chief elections officer of the state, administering elections and voter registration throughout the state. The office also receives campaign finance reports and registers lobbyists. The duty of regulating lobbying and campaign finance is shared with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. The secretary was granted by the Kansas Legislature prosecutorial power in voter fraud cases and is the first and only secretary of state to hold that power.[3]

Economic

The secretary operates the Business Filing Center, which registers business entities, trademarks, trade names and liens made pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code.

The secretary regulates a wide variety of businesses, including sports agents, trade unions, cemeteries and funeral homes.

Administrative

The Secretary's Publications Section is responsible for publishing various legal and informational documents for the state including statutory and administrative law publications such as session laws, regulations and the state's gazette, the Kansas Register.[4]

The secretary also operates "Safe at Home", the state's Address Confidentiality Program[5] and conducts census adjustments.[6]

Officeholders

Territorial

NameTermParty
Daniel Woodson 1854–1857 Democratic
Frederick P. Stanton 1857
James W. Denver 1857–1858
Hugh Sleight Walsh 1858–1860
George M. Beebe 1860–1861

State

ImageNameTermParty
John Winter Robinson 1861–1862 Republican
Sanders Rufus Shepherd 1862–1863
Warren Wirt Henry Lawrence 1863–1865
Rinaldo Allen Barker 1865–1869
Thomas Moonlight 1869–1871
William Hillary Smallwood 1871–1875
Thomas Horne Cavanaugh 1875–1879
James Smith 1879–1885
Edwin Bird Allen 1885–1889
William Higgins 1889–1893
Russell Scott Osborn 1893–1895 Populist
William Corydon Edwards 1895–1897 Republican
William Eben Bush 1897–1899 Populist
George Alfred Clark 1899–1903 Republican
Joel Randall Burrow 1903–1907
Charles Eugene Denton 1907–1911
Charles Harrison Sessions 1911–1915
John Thomas Botkin 1915–1919
Lewis Julian Pettijohn 1919–1922
David Owen McCray 1922–1923
Frank Joseph Ryan 1923–1929
Edgbert Albert Cornell 1929–1933
Frank Joseph Ryan 1933–1949
Larry Ryan 1949–1951 Democratic
Paul R. Shanahan 1951–1966 Republican
Elwill M. Shanahan 1966–1978
Jack Brier 1978–1987
Bill Graves 1987–1995
Ron Thornburgh 1995–2010
Chris Biggs 2010–2011 Democratic
Kris Kobach 2011–2019 Republican
Scott Schwab 2019–present

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Republican Schwab wins Kansas secretary of state race". www.hutchpost.com. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Blackmar, Frank (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History. Standard Publishing Co. pp. 592–598.
  3. 1 2 Eveld, Edward M. (October 28, 2015). "Former Olathe couple among those charged with voter fraud by Kris Kobach". Kansas City Star. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Kansas Secretary of State - Legal Publications". www.kssos.org. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Safe at Home Main". Kansas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Census Information". Kansas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 14, 2019.


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