How States Hold Fair Elections. Secretaries of State Michael Adams and Steve Hobbs

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Until recently most of us outside of state government didn’t know much about the role of Secretary of State, the state’s top election official. We simply didn’t think about it. But since 2020, election laws and procedures have been in the spotlight – and election officials have come under attack. In this episode of Let’s Find Common Ground, we meet Democrat Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State for Washington, and Republican Michael Adams, Secretary of State for Kentucky. Kentucky is a vote-in-person state, while Washington has voting by mail and at the dropbox. But no matter how people vote, suspicion of the entire process is rife. In recent years both men have encountered election deniers and faced threats to themselves and their staff. “These abuses, even if they’re not full-fledged threats of violence - it adds up,” says Michael Adams, “and it begins to really lay some strain on our election process. Hear what each of our guests is doing to protect democracy in his state, why being part of the Electronic Registration Information System (ERIC) is important to them, and how volunteers play a vital role in free and fair elections.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For a long time, most of us, no matter where we lived, didn't give much thought
0:04.9	to the role of our state's leading election official, the Secretary of State.
0:09.8	After all, until recently, the mechanics of how elections were held seemed kind of boring.
0:16.8	Then everything changed. Since 2020, elections have been in the spotlight
0:21.9	along with the officials who run them.
0:23.6	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite.
0:32.5	And I'm Richard Davies. Free and fair elections are right at the heart of our democracy,
0:38.1	but with trust in such short supply, the role of the Secretary of State has become
0:44.1	a lot more challenging. Our guests today know this firsthand.
0:49.5	In this episode, we meet Democrat Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State for Washington,
0:54.4	and Republican Michael Adams, Secretary of State for Kentucky.
0:58.3	Michael Adams was the first in his family to get a college degree and became an attorney
1:03.5	specializing in election law. He became Secretary of State in 2020.
1:10.0	Steve Hobbs began his career in the Army and spent 15 years as a state senator
1:15.2	before being elected Secretary of State last year.
1:19.4	Our first question was from Michael.
1:22.5	In his job as Secretary of State, exactly what does he do?
1:28.0	The responsibilities that our office has are on the country differ by state law,
1:32.7	but typically we do three things. Number one, we are literally the Secretary of the State
1:37.4	with the Chief Executive Records for our constituents. I have to attest to the acts of the
1:43.1	governor or keep a register of those every order that he signs, every bill that he signs.
1:48.0	Number two, we're typically the Chief Business Official of our states,
	...

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