| North Dakota Secretary of State | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Term length | 4 years |
| Formation | 1889 |
| First holder | John Flittie |
| Succession | Second |
| Website | sos |
TheNorth Dakota secretary of state is an elected office in theU.S. state ofNorth Dakota. The incumbent as of 2023[update] wasMichael Howe. Duties of the secretary of state include being the custodian of the state'sGreat Seal and other official state documents, recording the official acts of thegovernor, distributing copies of legislative resolutions, and recording original bills and resolutions from each biennialLegislative Assembly. Other duties of the office include those pertaining to statewide elections, licensing within the state, and recordingtrademarks. The secretary of state is second (behind thelieutenant governor) in theline of succession to the office ofGovernor of North Dakota.[1]
From the creation of the office with the state's constitution in 1889, to 2015 there had been 13 secretaries of state, the least number among any of the state offices created in that year. This is attributed to the 34-year tenure ofBen Meier, which as of 2015[update] was the longest of any state-level secretary of state in the US. As of 2015[update] the office had been held by theNorth Dakota Republican Party at all times except the period 1989 to 1992, when the state's Democratic Party was in office. The secretary of state originally served a two-year term, but this was extended to four in 1964 by a constitutional amendment.
The following is a list of secretaries of state of North Dakota.[2]
| Party | Secretaries |
|---|---|
| Republican | 14 |
| Democratic-NPL | 1 |
| # | Image | Name | Term | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | John Flittie | 1889–1892 | Republican |
| 2 | Christian M. Dahl | 1893–1896 | Republican | |
| 3 | .jpg) | Fred Falley | 1897–1900 | Republican |
| 4 | Edward F. Porter | 1901–1906 | Republican | |
| 5 | Alfred Blaisdell | 1907–1910 | Republican | |
| 6 |  | Patrick D. Norton | 1911–1912 | Republican |
| 7 | _Trim.jpg) | Thomas Hall | 1913–1924 | Republican/NPL |
| 8 | Robert Byrne | 1925–1934 | Republican | |
| 9 | James D. Gronna | 1935–1940 | Republican/NPL | |
| 10 |  | Herman Thorson | 1941–1942 | Republican |
| 11 | .jpg) | Thomas Hall | 1943–1954 | Republican |
| 12 | Ben Meier | 1955–1988 | Republican | |
| 13 | Jim Kusler | 1989–1992 | Democratic-NPL | |
| 14 | .png) | Alvin Jaeger | 1993–2023 | Republican |
| 15 | | Michael Howe | 2023–present | Republican |
