WI Secretary of State Campaign All About Office’s Duties — or Lack Thereof

Republican Jay Schroeder, Democrat JoCasta Zamarripa and Wisconsin Green Party candidate Pete Karas will face off in Nov. 3, 2026 election for secretary of state. Photos courtesy of Schroeder, Zamarripa and Karas campaigns

The office of secretary of state doesn’t have much power in Wisconsin, and the candidates running for the job are at odds on whether it should stay that way.

The incumbent, Democrat Sarah Godlewski, is leaving office to run for lieutenant governor. She was appointed to replace Democrat Doug La Follette, who held the job for 44 years.

On Nov. 3, voters will decide between Republican businessman Jay Schroeder, Democratic Milwaukee Alder JoCasta Zamarripa and former Racine Alder Pete Karas from the Wisconsin Green Party.

The role of the secretary of state has eroded over time, with many of the office’s former responsibilities shifting to other agencies.

In more than 30 states, the secretary of state is the chief election official, meaning they have the jurisdiction to oversee elections. That’s not the case in Wisconsin, where elections are overseen by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a group of bipartisan appointees.

Schroeder said Wisconsin should follow the lead of other states.

“We’ve had problems, and I don’t want to live in the past,” Schroeder said. “My goal in running for secretary of state is to increase trust, but we can’t have these examples because then increasingly people don’t trust their elections.”

Schroeder cited problems with Green Bay casting duplicate ballots and Milwaukee County having a human error in counting their ballots during the Aug. 11 primary.

“I go with what works,” he said of having the secretary of state run elections. “The overwhelming majority (of states) have it, and it’s for a reason. It builds trust in the elections.”

Zamarripa said she believes in the current system and the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is run by a board of three Republican and three Democratic appointees. She said election officials need more support from Madison, and that she will advocate for them.

“We have a Wisconsin Election Commission,” she said. “Things are running smoothly, and I don’t intend to ask for that to be put under the umbrella of the secretary of state.”

She said she would have conversations with legislators about restoring former responsibilities to the office, but wants to prioritize the current job duties. The main roles of the secretary of state include authenticating foreign documents and sitting as a chair on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, which oversees a $1.4 billion school trust fund.

The Wisconsin Green Party’s Pete Karas said he thinks it’s unrealistic for the secretary of state to be in charge of elections, though he also thinks the Wisconsin Elections Commission is flawed.

“We (should) have retired judges and possibly college professors and a few other people on a on a committee that does everything from redistricting to eliminate gerrymandering to just running the operations of elections,” Karas said.

Karas said he doesn’t buy into the spoiler effect that comes with voting third party, and said voters should vote for their values.

“There’s no room for partisanship in record-keeping,” Karas said. “The Republicans and Democrats failed us, and it’s time to make a statement. And this is a very safe race to make a statement.”

Zamarripa said she hopes for a Democratic trifecta, where the party runs both houses of the state Legislature and the governor’s office. She also wants the party to win the office of secretary of state because she says Republicans want to undermine elections.

“It is really critical that this office remain in Democratic hands,” Zamarripa said. “I certainly want to right now work to make sure that Wisconsinites know that Democrats are the candidates to vote for up and down the ballot.”

Wisconsin secretary of state campaign focuses on office’s duties — or lack thereof was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.