I know that the US State Department is what other nations would call the ministry of foreign affairs- the government agency that deals with relations with other countries. But the single states also have agencies called Department of State, headed by a Secretary of State, and I wonder what they are doing. I visited the websites of a few DoSs, and it seems as if they’re dealing with the state’s archives, organising elections and keeping the state seal. Doesn’t sound too exciting. It more seems to be a purely administrative job without too much importance; I mean, sure, organising elections is important, but the authority doing that surely isn’t the key one in the government, unlike the federal DoS that, as any foreign ministry in any country, is one of the most important cabinet posts of all. Is there more behind those departments, and if not, how did the federal DoS come to its name if its job is so totally different from the state departments of the same title?
Under the Articles of Confederation, the office was called the “Department of Foreign Affairs.” After the Adoption of the U.S. Constitution, Congress passed a law changing the name to the “Department of State”, and also gave it additional domestic duties: archiving laws, custody of the Great Seal of the United States, maintaing copies of executive appointments, and custody of records, including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence…in other words, a lot like Departments of State of the individual states today. In time, the foreign affairs duty of the U.S. Dept. of State far outweighed these domestic duties, although they still perform some at least nominally, like preservation of the seal.
Most secretaries of state have oversight over elections, entity formation and dissolution, and uniform commercial code (UCC) filings.
The secretary of state’s duty about elections you probably know about from the 2000 Florida fiasco, where Katherine Harris became famous.
Business formation and dissolution concerns the formation and termination of for profit and not for profit corporations, limited liability companies and similar entities, and registration of the entities trade name(s). UCC filings concern secured transactions, which are transactions involving collateral put up to secure a debt. The state secretary of state’s office is where such things are registered and made a part of the public record. People looking for information about a company can look it up at the secretary of state’s office or website and find out where the company does business and where to send the process server to deliver a legal summons and complaint to that company. People investigating whether to extend credit to someone can check UCC filings with the secretary of state’s office to see if the collateral the prospective borrower is offering to use is “free and clear” or is already burdened with a first lien.
In Michigan, the Secretary of State is responsible not only for voter registration, but also for licensing drivers and registering vehicles and watercraft.
US state Departments of State - what are they doing?
They form a division of the Dept. of Redundancy Department. 