The Minnesota Secretary of State is the state secretary of state of the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

The Secretary of State is the keeper of the Great Seal of the State of Minnesota

Seal of Minnesota

The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota is the state seal of the U.S. state of Minnesota.-Symbolism:The settler with his plow is depicted as being on the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls. His gun rests beside a stump signifying that he had given up war in exchange for farming, but was...

 and files and certifies the authenticity of a wide variety of official documents. The Secretary of State registers a variety of business associations, including corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

s, assumed business names

Doing business as

The phrase "doing business as" is a legal term used in the United States, meaning that the trade name, or fictitious business name, under which the business or operation is conducted and presented to the world is not the legal name of the legal person who actually own it and are responsible for it...

, bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

s, insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 companies, limited liability companies

Limited liability company

A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

, limited liability partnership

Limited liability partnership

A limited liability partnership is a partnership in which some or all partners have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important...

s, and limited partnership

Limited partnership

A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners , there are one or more limited partners . It is a partnership in which only one partner is required to be a general partner.The GPs are, in all major respects,...

s. A statewide computerized network with county recorders is maintained so that the public may search Uniform Commercial Code

Uniform Commercial Code

The Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...

 records throughout the state from any filing office.

The Secretary of State is also the chief election

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 official in Minnesota and is responsible for administration of the Minnesota election law. The secretary of state administers the open appointments process and publishes the Minnesota Legislative Manual, a compendium of federal, state and county government information.

The Secretary of State serves as a member on the Minnesota Executive Council

Minnesota Executive Council

The Minnesota Executive Council is the executive council of Minnesota. The Council is established by Chapter 9 of Minnesota Statutes.The Minnesota Executive Council is composed of the statewide elected executive officials. The members are the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State...

, Minnesota Board of Investment, and the Minnesota Historical Society executive board.

Territory

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
Charles K. Smith	1849	1851	Whig Whig Party (United States) The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
Alexander Wilkin	1851	1853	Whig
Joseph T. Rosser	1853	1857	Democrat Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Charles L. Chase Charles L. Chase Charles L. Chase was an American politician from Minnesota.Born in New York, Chase served as the fourth and last secretary of Minnesota Territory from April 23, 1857 until May 24, 1858. He was elected to the Minnesota Constitutional Convention of 1857. In 1876, Chase served in the Minnesota House...	1857	1858	Democrat

State

In 1886, elections were moved from odd years to even years. Beginning with the 1962 election, the term of the office increased from two to four years.

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
Francis Baasen	1858	1860	Democrat Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
James H. Baker James H. Baker James H. Baker was a Republican politician who was Ohio Secretary of State from 1856-1858, Minnesota Secretary of State, 1860-1862, and served in the American Civil War....	1860	1862	Republican Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
David Blakeley	1862	1868	Republican
Henry C. Rogers	1868	1870	Republican
Hans Mattsson Hans Mattsson Hans Mattsson was a Swedish American politician who emigrated from Skåne in the south of Sweden to North America in 1851 and settled in Goodhue County, Minnesota...	1870	1872	Republican
Samuel P. Jennison	1872	1876	Republican
John S. Irgens	1876	1880	Republican
Frederick Von Baumbach	1880	1887	Republican
Hans Mattsson Hans Mattsson Hans Mattsson was a Swedish American politician who emigrated from Skåne in the south of Sweden to North America in 1851 and settled in Goodhue County, Minnesota...	1887	1891	Republican
Frederick P. Brown	1891	1895	Republican
Albert Berg	1895	1901	Republican
Peter E. Hanson	1901	1907	Republican
Julius A. Schmahl Julius A. Schmahl Julius August Schmahl was a Minnesota politician, and a member of the Republican Party. He served nearly four decades in statewide elective office, as Minnesota's Secretary of State and Treasurer....	1907	1921	Republican
Mike Holm Mike Holm Mike Holm was a Swedish-born American politician and the longest-serving Minnesota Secretary of State, serving from January 4, 1921 until his death. His wife, Virginia Paul Holm, later succeeded him in the office...	1921	1952	Republican
H. H. Chesterman H. H. Chesterman H.H. Chesterman briefly served as Secretary of State of Minnesota.Chesterman, who had served as Assistant Secretary of State under Mike Holm, was appointed to the position in July 1952 by Gov. Elmer Anderson after Holm's death...	1952	1952
Virginia Paul Holm Virginia Paul Holm Virginia Paul Holm Bye was a Minnesota politician, a member of the Republican Party, and the first woman to serve as Secretary of State of Minnesota....	1952	1955	Republican
Joseph L. Donovan Joseph L. Donovan Joseph L. Donovan was a Minnesota politician, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Minnesota's Secretary of State from 1955 to 1971. He also served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1960 and 1964.Donovan was born in Champion, Michigan, and later moved to Duluth....	1955	1971	DFL
Arlen Erdahl Arlen Erdahl Arlen Ingolf Erdahl served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1963 to 1970, Minnesota Secretary of State from 1971 – 1975 and was a U.S. Representative from Minnesota, serving the first district from 1979 – 1983, in the 96th and 97th congresses.- Background :Arlen Ingolf...	1971	1975	Republican
Joan Growe Joan Growe Joan Anderson Growe is a former Secretary of State of Minnesota, serving from 1975–1999. Known for her work to encourage voter participation, her tenure was one of the longest of any secretary of state in Minnesota's history. In 1984, she unsuccessfully challenged Republican U.S...	1975	1999	DFL
Mary Kiffmeyer Mary Kiffmeyer Mary Kiffmeyer is an American politician who served as the 20th Minnesota Secretary of State from 1999 to 2007.She was subsequently elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2008, and currently represents District 16B....	1999	2007	Republican
Mark Ritchie Mark Ritchie Donald Mark Ritchie was elected the 21st Minnesota Secretary of State on November 7, 2006. He was re-elected in 2010. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He grew up in Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University in 1971...	2007	present	DFL

• Chesterman served as Assistant Secretary of State under Mike Holm, and was appointed to the position upon Holm's death. He left office later that same year, and never stood for election.

External links

• Minnesota Secretary of State website