Pete Karas, the Green Party candidate for Wisconsin secretary of state, is calling for the office to be made nonpartisan, arguing that the position no longer carries enough policymaking authority to justify partisan labels on the ballot.
In a July 27 statement shared with Independent Political Report, the Karas campaign said the position has been stripped of “nearly all” of its statutory authority since 1946 and now operates with two full-time staff. It argued that, at this point in time, the position functions largely as a records office and does not write policy, vote on legislation, or oversee elections, which are instead administered by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“Slapping a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ on this office doesn’t tell voters anything useful,” Karas said. “It just turns a records-keeping job into another partisan fight, and it tricks people into skipping a race where their vote could actually break the two-party lock.”
As in many other states, the Wisconsin secretary of state is a partisan position elected on the general election ballot, with races taking place every four years. As the Karas campaign said, the position was dramatically changed in 1946, when voters approved a constitutional amendment removing the secretary of state’s role as ex officio state auditor and giving the Legislature responsibility for arranging how state accounts would be audited. The office has since been reduced further, leaving it focused mainly on maintaining and authenticating official state records.
In making his point, Karas pointed to Wisconsin’s judicial races and the state superintendent of public instruction as examples of statewide offices already elected without partisan labels. He called for the secretary of state to be treated similarly, saying the office’s modern limited duties have left the need for a partisan label unnecessary.
Karas also called the position one of the weakest statewide offices of its kind in the country. For that reason, he said it is the “safest place” for voters dissatisfied with the two major parties to express that frustration and support an alternative candidate. Still, Karas said his own use of the Green Party ballot line is a necessity under the current system, not a “preference” or argument for keeping the office partisan.
“I need a party line to get on the ballot,” Karas said. “But nobody after me should have to. If this office has almost no power, a party label on it is just decoration. Making it nonpartisan is honesty in ballot design.”
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