The North Dakota secretary of state is an elected office in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The incumbent was Michael Howe. Duties of the secretary of state include being the custodian of the state's Great Seal and other official state documents, recording the official acts of the governor, distributing copies of legislative resolutions, and recording original bills and resolutions from each biennial Legislative Assembly. Other duties of the office include those pertaining to statewide elections, licensing within the state, and recording trademarks. The secretary of state is second (behind the lieutenant governor) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of North Dakota.
History 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 of Ben Meier, which was the longest of any state-level secretary of state in the US. the office had been held by the North 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.
List of secretaries of state The following is a list of secretaries of state of North Dakota.North Dakota Secretary of State | About the Secretary of State + Secretaries of state by party affiliationPartySecretariesRepublican14Democratic-NPL1 # Image Name Term Party1 John Flittie 1889–1892 Republican2 Christian M. Dahl 1893–1896 Republican3 Fred Falley 1897–1900 Republican4 Edward F. Porter 1901–1906 Republican5 Alfred Blaisdell 1907–1910 Republican6 Patrick D. Norton 1911–1912 Republican7 Thomas Hall 1913–1924 Republican/NPL8 Robert Byrne 1925–1934 Republican9 James D. Gronna 1935–1940 Republican/NPL10 Herman Thorson 1941–1942 Republican11 Thomas Hall 1943–1954 Republican12 Ben Meier 1955–1988 Republican13 Jim Kusler 1989–1992 Democratic-NPL14 Alvin Jaeger 1993–2023 Republican15 Michael Howe 2023–present Republican
See also List of company registers
References
External links Official website of the North Dakota Secretary of State