Washington’s secretary of state is an interesting job.
In a lot of ways, it’s pretty administrative. They supervise the state archives. They coordinate implementation of the state’s records management laws. But what they’ve become most well known for is supervising and certifying state and local elections.
Some say, to do that job properly, the position should be nonpartisan.
Cornell Clayton is the director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, where he also serves as the C.O. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He says there’s a history to the position’s partisan nature.
“It is a result of the fact that our constitution was created during the progressive era and the populist era — in the 1880s, 1890s,” Clayton said. “And many of the states that created their constitutions at that time were impacted by the desire to have more direct democracy. And so almost all of their executive branch officials, and many of their judicial branch officials are directly elected, and that includes the secretary of state in Washington.”
In other words, it was created to be a partisan system. Government officials wanted to weed out corruption in the system. Creating positions that were accountable to voters seemed like the way to do that. During less tumultuous times, Clayton says the system works.
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