View source for Tennessee Secretary of State

{{Short description|Political office of the state government of Tennessee}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox official post
| post = Secretary of State
| body = Tennessee
| native_name = 
| insignia = Seal of Tennessee.svg
| insigniasize = 150
| insigniacaption = Great Seal of the State of Tennessee
| flag = Flag of Tennessee.svg
| flagsize = 
| flagborder = 
| flagcaption = Flag of the State of Tennessee
| image = Tre Hargett Gives a Speech.png
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| imagecaption = 
| incumbent = [[Tre Hargett]]
| acting = 
| incumbentsince = January 15, 2009
| department = Department of State
| style = 
| type = [[Secretary of state|Secretary of State]]
| status = 
| abbreviation = 
| member_of = 
| reports_to = 
| residence = 
| seat = 
| nominator = 
| appointer = [[Tennessee General Assembly]]
| appointer_qualified = 
| termlength = Four years
| termlength_qualified = 
| constituting_instrument = [[Constitution of Tennessee|Tennessee State Constitution]]
| precursor = 
| formation = 1792
| first = Daniel Smith
| last = 
| abolished = 
| succession = 
| unofficial_names = 
| deputy = 
| salary = 
| website = [https://sos.tn.gov/ Tennessee Secretary of State website]
}}

The '''Tennessee Secretary of State''' is an office created by the [[Tennessee State Constitution]].  The Secretary of State is responsible for many of the administrative aspects of the operation of the [[Government of Tennessee|state government]] of [[Tennessee]]. The current Secretary of State is [[Tre Hargett]].

==Selection process==
According to the Tennessee Constitution of 1870, the Secretary of State is to be elected to a four-year term by the [[Tennessee General Assembly|General Assembly]] in a [[joint convention]]. "Joint convention" means that the 99 [[Tennessee House of Representatives|state Representatives]] and 33 [[Tennessee Senate|state Senators]] sit as a single body and cast individual votes.  A majority of the 132 votes (67) is thus required for election.  As this office is elected on a [[political party|partisan]] basis, this means that the party having an overall majority of members in the two houses will elect its nominee secretary of state.  Since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], in Tennessee this invariably resulted in the secretary of state being a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] until 2009, when the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] gained the majority of seats in the General Assembly.  The election of the secretary of state occurs in the cycle opposite to that of the election of the [[governor of Tennessee]]; in other words the term of the Tennessee Secretary of State is roughly coincident with that of the [[President of the United States]], generally beginning and ending only a few days earlier.

Tennessee's method of selection stands in contrast to that of nearly all other [[U.S. states]], where the secretary of state is generally either popularly elected on a statewide basis or appointed by the governor of the state.  In contrast to the practice of some states, in Tennessee the secretary of state is not high in the [[order of succession]] to the governorship; the [[speaker (politics)|speakers]] of the [[Tennessee Senate|Senate]] and [[Tennessee House of Representatives|House]] are the first two in line.

Secretary of State is one of only three state "constitutional officers" other than governor under the Tennessee Constitution; most other states have more.  In contrast to this office, the other two, the State Treasurer and the Comptroller of the Treasury, are elected by the joint convention to two-year terms.  There are no constitutional limits on the number of terms to which a person can be elected to any of these offices.  The agency headed by the secretary of state is officially styled the "Tennessee Department of State".

==Duties==
As the secretary of state is elected by the legislature, the secretary of state's office is considered to be part of the [[legislature|legislative branch]], not the [[executive (government)|executive branch]], of government in Tennessee.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hargett |first1=Tre |title=2021-2022 Tennessee Blue Book |publisher=Tennessee Secretary of State |page=3 |url=https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/pub/blue_book/21-22/21-22legislative.pdf |access-date=2022-09-04}}</ref>  Duties of the secretary of state's office include the chartering of [[corporation]]s, the registration of [[trademark]]s and [[service mark]]s, and the administration of [[election]]s. The secretary of state also publishes the biennial ''[[Tennessee Blue Book]]'', the official guide to all three branches of Tennessee State Government, and other state publications including the publication of all public and private acts enacted by the General Assembly. The secretary of state is further charged with the regulation of [[charitable organization|charitable solicitations]], the operations of the [[Tennessee State Library and Archives|state library and archives]], and the administration of the state Economic Commission on Women. To discharge the above duties, the Tennessee Department of State employs several [[administrative law judge]]s.

The secretary of state collects an annual salary of $222,252, making them the highest-remunerated secretary of state in the country.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.csg.org/2023/01/20/state-executive-salaries-regional-and-state-level-comparisons/| title = State Executive Salaries: Regional and State-level Comparisons| last2 = Halpyrn| first2 = Rebecca| last1 = Willis| first1 = Caroline| date = January 20, 2023| publisher = [[Council of State Governments]]| access-date = July 18, 2023}}</ref>

==In history==
According to some historians, during the [[American Civil War]], Secretary of State [[Edward H. East]] succeeded to the governorship when [[Andrew Johnson]], who had served as military governor, became [[Vice President of the United States]] on March 4, 1865, and served as governor until April 5, when [[William Gannaway Brownlow|William "Parson" Brownlow]] was inaugurated as governor.  The official ''Tennessee Blue Book'', published by the secretary of state's office, does not include East on its list of governors. As the Tennessee General Assembly ceased to meet during the Civil War and much of the ordinary process of government ceased effective function in the state, East had been appointed Secretary of State by Johnson. Those who recognize East's governorship do so on the theory that he was the highest-ranking remaining state official once Johnson had become Vice President.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

[[Joe C. Carr]] served as secretary of state on three occasions for a total of 27 years in the office, making him the longest-serving secretary; in addition, his wife held the office while he was in military service during [[World War II]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KI0uAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA33 Joe C. Carr, Secretary of State], ''[[Tennessee Blue Book]] 1975-1978'', page 33</ref>  As secretary of state and thus the official responsible for conducting elections in the state, he was the nominal defendant in the famous 1962 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] case ''[[Baker v. Carr]]'', in which the Supreme Court held that [[United States House of Representatives|Congressional]] and legislative districts had to be of substantially equal populations in order to comply with the "equal protection" provision of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (the so-called "one man one vote" decision). (Carr's name as defendant was merely ''[[ex officio]]''; the General Assembly, not the secretary of state, was responsible for setting the district boundaries, Carr's responsibility was to publish the resulting map and conduct elections accordingly.)

In the 1970s and 1980s the secretary of state's office was given the responsibility for issuing and administering [[Bingo (US)|bingo]] licenses.  An investigation into irregularities in the issuance of these licenses ([[Operation Rocky Top]]) resulted in several [[indictment]]s and the [[suicide]] of then-Secretary of State [[Gentry Crowell]].  As a result, bingo was made illegal in Tennessee, which it remains, except that it has been legal as an annual fundraising event for a recognized 501c(19) war veteran's organization since a 2014 amendment to the state constitution.

The current secretary of state, [[Tre Hargett]], has served since January 2009. He had previously served as [[Minority Leader]] in the [[Tennessee House of Representatives]].

===List of past secretaries of state===
The following have held the office of Secretary of State in Tennessee:<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KI0uAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA35&ci=32,1270,868,190&source=bookclip" Tennessee Blue Book 1975-1978], by Tennessee Dept. of State, page 35</ref><ref>[http://tennessee.gov/sos/bluebook/07-08/44-Past%20offers.pdf Secretaries of State], Tennessee Blue Book 2007–2008, page 507</ref>
{| class=wikitable
|-
!Image
!Name
!Term
|-
|
|[[Daniel Smith (surveyor)|Daniel Smith]]<br>(Territorial Secretary of [[Southwest Territory|Territory South of the River Ohio]])
|1792–1796
|-
|
|William Maclin
|1796–1807
|-
|
|[[Robert Houston (Tennessee politician)|Robert Houston]]
|1807–1811
|-
|
|[[William Grainger Blount]]
|1811–1815
|-
|
|[[William Alexander (Tennessee politician)|William Alexander]]
|1815–1818
|-
|
|Daniel Graham
|1818–1830
|-
|
|Thomas H. Fletcher
|1830–1832
|-
|
|Samuel G. Smith
|1832–1835
|-
|
|[[Luke Lea (1783–1851)|Luke Lea]]
|1835–1839
|-
|
|John S. Young
|1839–1847
|-
|
|W .B. A. Ramsey
|1847–1855
|-
|
|F. N. W. Burton
|1855–1859
|-
|
|J. E. R. Ray
|1859–1862
|-
|[[File:Edward-hazzard-east-by-ritchie.jpg|60px]]
|[[Edward H. East]]<br>(appointed by [[Andrew Johnson]], Military Governor of Tennessee)
|1862–1865
|-
|
|A. J. Fletcher
|1865–1870
|-
|[[File:Thomas Harvey Butler Sr. (1819–1889).jpg|60px]]
|[[Thomas H. Butler|T. H. Butler]]
|1870–1873
|-
|
|Charles N. Gibbs
|1873–1881
|-
|
|David A. Nunn
|1881–1885
|-
|
|John Allison
|1885–1889
|-
|
|Charles A. Miller
|1889–1893
|-
|
|William S. Morgan
|1893–1901
|-
|[[File:Capt. John W. Morton.tif|60px]]
|[[John W. Morton (Tennessee politician)|John W. Morton]]
|1901–1909
|-
|
|Hallum W. Goodloe
|1909–1913
|-
|
|[[R. R. Sneed]]
|1913–1917
|-
|
|Ike B. Stevens
|1917–1921
|-
|
|Ernest N. Hasten
|1921–1937
|-
|
|[[Ambrose B. Broadbent]]
|1937–1941
|-
|
|[[Joe C. Carr]]
|1941–1944
|-
|
|Mary Hart Carr (Mrs. Joe C. Carr)
|1944–1945
|-
|
|[[Joe C. Carr]]
|1945–1949
|-
|[[File:James H Cummings.jpg|60px]]
|[[James H. Cummings]]
|1949–1953
|-
|
|[[George Edward Friar]]
|1953–1957
|-
|
|[[Joe C. Carr]]
|1957–1977
|-
|
|[[Gentry Crowell]]
|1977–1989
|-
|
|[[Milton P. Rice]]
|1989–1990
|-
|
|[[Bryant Millsaps]]
|1990–1993
|-
|[[File:Riley Darnell.png|60px]]
|[[Riley Darnell]]
|1993–2009
|-
|[[File:Tre Hargett Gives a Speech.png|60px]]
|[[Tre Hargett]]
|2009–present
|}

==See also==
* [[Government of Tennessee]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==

{{TNStateOfficers}}
{{U.S. State Secretaries of State}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Secretaries of state of Tennessee| ]]
[[Category:State agencies of Tennessee]]
[[Category:1792 establishments in the United States]]