The Secretary of State is one of four state offices authorized by the Kansas Constitution. Although created by the state constitution, the duties of the office are defined by almost 1,000 state laws. Among the many duties of the Office of the Kansas Secretary of State is maintaining primary responsibility for administering elections, collecting certain records of Kansas businesses and publishing the official publications for the State of Kansas. As a result, hundreds of thousands of documents are kept by the Secretary of State. Generally, they fall into four categories – executive, legislative, elections and business.
The Secretary of State is elected to a four year term which begins the second Monday in January, following the November general election. Kansas law does not impose term limits on those serving as Kansas Secretary of State. In the instance where the position of Secretary of State becomes vacant, the governor shall appoint an individual to serve the remainder of the term.
