| Secretary of state of the State of Kansas | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the secretary of state of Kansas | |
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| Inaugural holder | John Winter Robinson |
| Formation | February 1861 |
| Succession | Fourth |
| Website | sos |
Thesecretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state ofKansas. The currentsecretary of state is the former speakerpro tempore of theKansas House of Representatives,Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on January 14, 2019.[1]
The firstsecretary of state for Kansas wasJohn Winter Robinson, a physician originally from Litchfield, Maine, but who had settled inManhattan, Kansas, in 1857. Robinson was elected in December 1859, in anticipation ofstatehood for Kansas, and sworn in after Kansas was admitted to theUnion in February 1861.[2]
As a result of abond scandal, Robinson wasimpeached on February 26, 1862, along with the governor,Charles L. Robinson, and state auditor, George S. Hillyer. Robinson was convicted by theKansas Senate on June 12, 1862, and removed from his office, becoming the first stateexecutive 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]
The secretary of state is the chiefelections officer of the state, administering elections andvoter registration throughout the state. The office also receivescampaign finance reports and registerslobbyists. 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]
The secretary operates the Business Filing Center, which registersbusiness entities,trademarks,trade names andliens made pursuant to theUniform Commercial Code.
The secretary regulates a wide variety of businesses, includingsports agents,trade unions,cemeteries andfuneral homes.
The Secretary's Publications Section is responsible for publishing various legal and informational documents for the state includingstatutory andadministrative law publications such as session laws,regulations and the state'sgazette, theKansas Register.[4]
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Constitution |
Legislature
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Divisions |
Congressional delegation
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| Name | Term | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Woodson | 1854–1857 | Democratic |
| Frederick P. Stanton | 1857 | |
| James W. Denver | 1857–1858 | |
| Hugh Sleight Walsh | 1858–1860 | |
| George M. Beebe | 1860–1861 |
| Image | Name | Term | Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
_(1).jpg) | Kris Kobach | 2011–2019 | Republican |
| Scott Schwab | 2019–present |
