The Texas Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836, and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

The Secretary of State has an enormous number of duties and responsibilities, including the following: authenticating the publication of all laws passed by the state legislature; approving comptroller's accounts against the state prior to payment; maintaining a register of all official acts and proceedings of the governor, and all appointments to state boards and commissions; interpreting and enforcing the Texas Election Code, as the state's chief election officer; keeping the Seal of the State of Texas; maintaining many business-related filings, including corporation and Uniform Commercial Code filings.

The office of the Secretary of State is divided into five divisions: Executive, Elections, Business and Public Filings, Administrative Services, and Information Services.

The Elections Division assists the Secretary in interpreting and applying the Election Code and other election laws, and in carrying out his duties as the state's chief election officer. This involves the following tasks: receiving, examining, and filing the official certified returns of all general elections, special elections for members of the legislature, and constitutional amendment elections; preparing detailed and comprehensive written instructions on election laws and distributing them to state and local authorities who administer the laws; receiving official filings of election-related lists, records, and petitions; maintaining a registration service master file containing voter registration information for each registered voter in the state; providing for the training of election judges and clerks; certifying (in writing) the name of each candidate for U.S. president and vice-president and each candidate nominated at a primary election or party convention for a statewide or district office that will appear on the general election ballot.

In 1992, the functions of the Elections Division's Disclosure Filings Section were transferred to the newly created Texas Ethics Commission. Those duties had included the administration of certain ethics filings, created during the 1970s: statements of campaign contributions and expenditures for individuals and for political action committees (PACs), personal financial disclosure statements required of candidates and certain elected and appointed state officials, speaker's race reports, registration and reports of lobbyists.