Race for Wisconsin Secretary of State takes on new importance

Chances are most people can’t name Wisconsin’s Secretary of State. That is understandable, given that the elected position has few responsibilities. The duties of Wisconsin’s Secretary of State have been stripped by the Legislature over the years, and now the office has the duty of sitting on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. The only other responsibility of the Secretary of State is to serve as the repository for the Great Seal of Wisconsin. That sounds like a boring and ceremonial duty. But actually, it is quite important because that seal is affixed to the document that certifies elections in Wisconsin. For decades that has occurred without any question about whether it should or shouldn’t be done. After the 2020 election, Secretary of State Doug La Follette affixed the Great Seal to the piece of paper certifying that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Wisconsin. Despite the fact that Biden clearly carried the state, one candidate for the office says he would not have signed the document to certify Biden’s victory. Republican Jay Schroeder says he would not have signed the document, arguing that one person, the Secretary of State, can overrule the will of the electorate and award the election to someone who didn’t actually win. That is a scary thought, which makes our choice for Secretary of State in the next election more important than ever before.