Wisconsin's New Secretary of State Hopes to Modernize the Office

Wednesday, April 19th, 2023 -- 9:00 AM

(By Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) A month into her appointment as Wisconsin’s Secretary of State, Sarah Godlewski said she is hoping to modernize the office, which has seen decades of cutbacks and diminished responsibilities.

According to Anya van Wagtendonk with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the office may also look to support the state’s election administration body, Godlewski said in an appearance on Wisconsin Public Radio's "The Morning Show" Monday.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has "been doing important election work freely, fairly and securely for a long time," Godlewski said. "And so, in my mind, I don't think that we need to change that.

But I do think that there is a role that the secretary of state can play with strengthening our democracy." In the last election, Republicans pushed to move some elements of election administration away from the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and into the office of secretary of state.

Democrats criticized that move, saying it could give one person too much control over elections. Godlewski was appointed to replace Doug La Follette, who held the office for more than four decades.

La Follette retired suddenly on March 17 after winning reelection just months earlier. The 82-year-old cited insufficient support and resources for the office in his resignation letter to Gov. Tony Evers.

Godlewski inherited the small office, with a staff of one and few official functions. She told "The Morning Show" that she will work to "make sure that we have a budget that is properly resourced for all the work that the secretary of state does."

"It's an office that pays for itself because of the services that they are able to provide businesses and citizens here in Wisconsin," Godlewski said. Among the office’s main functions is authenticating documents that Wisconsin businesses or individuals may need to work, travel, or affirm family structures overseas.

Godlewski said she'd like to modernize this aspect of the work, allowing people to certify documents online without driving to Madison. The office also sits on the Board of Com​missioners of Public Lands, the state's oldest agency, which manages state land that sits in trust for public schools and libraries.

Godlewski said she wants to see that agency increase its distributions. In dozens of states, secretaries of state administer elections, but that hasn't been the case in Wisconsin since 1974.

Godlewski said her office could support municipal clerks in offering more transparency to voters or in establishing "public-private partnerships" to make voting easier in Wisconsin.

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