Mitch Perry
On Monday, a House committee advanced legislation that could result in a 2018 constitutional amendment asking Floridians to make Secretary of State an elected position.
Stuart Republican Gayle Harrell told members of the House Oversight, Transparency & Administration Subcommittee that the Secretary of State’s office is so important, that he or she needs to be accountable to all the citizens of the state.
Also, Harrell’s bill (HJR 111) would add the Secretary of State’s office to the Florida Cabinet, currently represented by the governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner and chief financial officer.
Sandra Mortham, who served as Florida’s Secretary of State from 1994-1998, noted to the committee that in the fifteen years since the position has been a handpicked choice of the governor, there had been 10 different people holding that office.
“That does not bode well,” she said.
When asked if she felt equally as strong that the position should be added to the Cabinet, Mortham said she actually wouldn’t have a problem if it were expanded to seven members, believing that the education and insurance commissioners should also be chosen by the voters (as they used to be).
For the resolution to get on the 2018 ballot, it must get 60 percent support in both the House and the Senate (where Fernandina Beach Republican Aaron Bean is sponsoring the bill).
If the voters approve it in 2018, the new governor would still have the power to select his or her own Secretary of State. The first time the public could vote on the position would be in 2022.
