Secretary of State
In 2004, Dunlap was elected Secretary of State of Maine by the Maine Legislature, a role in which he served from 2005 until 2011. During his tenure as Secretary of State, Dunlap oversaw the modernization of the way the Secretary of State's office delivers services to the public electronically and directed the implementation of Maine's Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, allowing military personnel and others abroad secure and prompt access to the ballot. Dunlap also served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State from 2010 until 2011. After the Republican Party took control of the Maine legislature in 2010, Dunlap was succeeded by State Senator Charlie Summers following a vote of 53% to 47%.
Dunlap was again selected to be Secretary of State by the Legislature after Democrats regained control of both its chambers in the 2012 elections. He took the oath of office on January 7, 2013. He is the first person elected to non-consecutive terms as Secretary of State since 1880, when S.J. Chadbourne held the position after holding it from 1876-1878.
Read more about this topic: Matthew Dunlap
Famous quotes related to secretary of state:
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)