The secretary of state of Arizona is an elected position in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Since Arizona does not have a

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, the secretary stands first in the

line of succession An order, line or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated, such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.governorship. The secretary also serves as acting governor whenever the governor is incapacitated or out of state. The secretary is the keeper of the

Seal of Arizona The Great Seal of the State of Arizona is the state seal of the U.S. state of Arizona as designated in the state constitution. Article 22, Section 20 of the State of Arizona Constitution by the Arizona State Legislature details the design and ...

and administers oaths of office. The current office holder is Democrat

Adrian Fontes Adrian Fontes (born April 3, 1970) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he has served as the Secretary of State of Arizona since 2023, after defeating Republican Party (United ...

Duties

The secretary is in charge of a wide variety of other duties as well. The secretary is in charge of four divisions: * The secretary is in charge of the ''Arizona Advance Directive Registry'', which is the official state repository of

advance directives An advance healthcare directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longe ...

such as

living will An advance healthcare directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longe ...

s, Medical Powers of Attorney, and Mental Health Powers of Attorney. * The ''Business Services Division'' is responsible for registering

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

s, and

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...

s under the

Uniform Commercial Code The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through U ...

. This division also issues

apostille The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Th ...

s, files intergovernmental agreements and notices of public meetings, and regulates notaries public,

employment agencies An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

s, out-of-state landlords, telemarketers, and

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

s. The Business Services Division is responsible for chartering

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

s, on the other hand, are the responsibility of the

Arizona Corporation Commission The Arizona Corporation Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the Arizona, State of Arizona, established by Article 15 of the Constitution of Arizona, Arizona Constitution. Arizona is one of only fourteen states with elected commission ...

. * ''The Elections Division'' is responsible for administering all elections in the state, and certifying their results. This division also regulates

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

and

campaign finance Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...

. * The ''Public Services Division'' is responsible for filing bills from the

Arizona Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

, registering and publishing administrative

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

s, and publishes the Arizona Blue Book, which is an informational guide to the government of Arizona. The secretary administers the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

History

The longest-served secretary is

Wesley Bolin Harvey Wesley Bolin (July 1, 1909 – March 4, 1978) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 15th governor of Arizona between 1977 and 1978. His five months in office mark the shortest term in office for any Arizona gover ...

, who served 12 full terms (including the last two-year term and the first four-year term), and 1 partial term for a total of 28 years, 9 months, 18 days (or 10,518 days). Bolin was also the shortest-serving governor, ascending to the governorship in 1977 after

Raúl Héctor Castro Raúl Héctor Castro (; June 12, 1916 – April 10, 2015) was a Mexican American politician, diplomat and judge. In 1964, Castro was selected to be United States Ambassador to El Salvador, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, a position he held until ...

resigned, and serving only 5 months before his death. The second-longest-serving is James H. Kerby who was elected to 6 two-year terms in 1923–1929, and again in 1933–1939. He is also the only one to serve non-consecutively in the office. The shortest tenure goes to J. C. Callaghan who died 20 days after his inauguration. Only two secretaries of state have been elected governor without having first ascended to the office upon the death, resignation, or impeachment of a sitting governor: Sidney P. Osborn and

Katie Hobbs Kathleen Marie Hobbs (born December 28, 1969) is an American politician serving since 2023 as the 24th governor of Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, she was secretary of state of Arizona from 2019 to 2023 and a member of the Arizona Le ...

. Osborn was also the first governor to die in office, making Dan Garvey the first secretary of state to ascend to the position. Since then, four other secretaries of state have become governor through filling a vacancy.

Duties

History

Officeholders

See also

Notes

References

External links