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Texas Secretary of State, Elections Division:An Inventory of Correspondence at the Texas State Archives, 1967-1968, 1970-1975, 1980-1983
Agency HistoryThe 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. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the RecordsThese records include correspondence, memoranda, newsclippings, samples of voter registration materials, and some legislative reports. They comprise the correspondence files of the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State, dating 1967-1968, 1970-1975, and 1980-1983. Correspondence is with citizens as well as various county, state, and federal officials and addresses a wide range of election-related issues, concerns, complaints, and requests for information. The files contain incoming and outgoing letters covering such topics as residency requirements, voter registration, redistricting, voting procedures, voting patterns, election returns, campaign expense statements, election legislation, local option elections, candidates, ballots, and Secretary of State election law opinions. To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictions on AccessNone. Restrictions on UseNone. Technical RequirementsNone. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Related MaterialReturn to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred Citation(Identify the item and cite the series), Correspondence, Elections Division, Texas Secretary of State. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Accession InformationAccession numbers: 1979/195, 1989/092, 1991/163, 1993/137 These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State on June 1, 1979; January 13, 1989; May 31, 1991; and March 22, 1993. Processing InformationLaura K. Saegert, September 1989 Lisa M. Hendricks, July 1992 Tonia J. Wood, May 1995 Tony Black, October 2003 Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Records
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