Cathy Cox - Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Cox ran for Secretary of State in 1998 and defeated Republican candidate John A. McCallum with 56.6% of the vote. She was re-elected in 2002 with 61.1% of the vote (more than any other Georgia Democrat that year) against Republican candidate Charlie Bailey.

Cox took office in January 1999 and was the first woman to serve as Georgia's Secretary of State. Her first action in office was to move the largest division of her office from Atlanta to Macon, saying she "wanted to bring government closer to the people it serves." She also instituted a universal electronic voting system, making Georgia the first American state to use such a system. Cox created the Georgia Invests initiative to combat fraudulent telephone investment schemes.

In 2004, Cox rejected all 63 voter registration applications on the basis that they did not follow correct procedures. The procedures not followed included obtaining specific pre-clearance from the state to conduct their drive. A suit was filed, Charles H. Wesley Education Foundation v. Cathy Cox, on the basis that the rejection of the registrations violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by undermining voter registration drives. A Senior U.S. District Judge upheld earlier federal court decisions in the case, finding against Cox, and deciding that private entities have a right under the NVRA to engage in organized voter registration activity in Georgia at times and locations of their choosing, without the presence or permission of state or local election officials.