How Secretary of State Races Became Key Focus in Election Integrity Battle

In the wake of the 2020 election, focus sharpened on the 41 state secretaries of state that manage elections; a once obscure position has become a battleground.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Oregon Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen for Montana, macwarner.com, Joe Ross, US Department of Education, Freepik

State secretary of state elections were of little interest before 2022, except for those most engaged in statehouse politics. Even the name has a cement reverb.

However, former President Donald Trump’s adamant position about the legitimacy of the 2020 election thrust these usually obscure contests into the spotlight. Several of the 27 secretary of state races in 2022 illustrated sharp divides in elections administration between Republicans and Democrats and exposed fault lines within the GOP.