| Post: | Secretary of State |
| Body: | West Virginia |
| Insignia: | Seal of West Virginia.svg |
| Insigniacaption: | The Great Seal of the State of West Virginia |
| Incumbent: | Mac Warner |
| Incumbentsince: | January 16, 2017 |
| Style: | The Honorable |
| Seat: | West Virginia State Capitol, West Virginia Capitol Complex Charleston, West Virginia |
| Termlength: | Four years, no term limit |
| Formation: | June 20, 1863 |
| Inaugural: | Jacob Edgar Boyers |
| Deputy: | Chuck Flannery |
| Salary: | $95,000 |
| Website: | http://sos.wv.gov |
The secretary of state of West Virginia is an elected office within the U.S. state of West Virginia state government. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing the state's election process, including voter registration and election results reporting.
The current secretary of state is Republican Mac Warner.
The Office of Secretary of State is a publicly elected statewide position with elections held every four years. Elections are held in November and officers assume their duties the following January. There are no term limits for the office.
If the office of secretary of state becomes vacant, it is the duty of the governor to fill the position by appointment. The appointee serves until a new commissioner is elected.
Qualifications for being elected to the office are that one is a citizen entitled to vote, who has been a resident of West Virginia for at least the preceding 5 years.
The West Virginia secretary of state is the smallest constitutional office in the state – physically, fiscally, and in terms of the number of staff.[1] The duties of the office, though, are extensive. The primary responsibility of the secretary is to serve as the chief election officer. The "work horse" of the office is the business and licensing division, which registers, licenses, and keeps a database of all businesses, corporations, charities, notaries public, private investigators, and sports agents operating within West Virginia. The secretary also files public notices of all state agency meetings, sends official documents on behalf of the governor, and certifies gubernatorial proclamations by affixing the state seal and their signature to official documents.[1]
The Secretary of State's Office is organized as follows:
The secretary of state also serves as registered agents for service of process for certain types of defendants in lawsuits.[4]
Below is a list of West Virginia's secretaries of state since 1863:
| Image | Name | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Boyers | Republican | 1863–1865 | ||
| Granville D. Hall | Republican | 1865–1867 | ||
| John S. Witcher | Republican | 1867–1869 | ||
| James M. Pipes | Republican | 1869–1871 | ||
| John M. Phelps | Republican | 1871–1873 | ||
| Charles Hedrick | Democratic | 1873–1877 | ||
| Sobieski Brady | Democratic | 1877–1881 | ||
| Randolph Stalnaker | Democratic | 1881–1885 | ||
| Henry S. Walker | Democratic | 1885–1890 | ||
| William A. Ohley | Democratic | 1890–1893 | ||
| William E. Chilton | Democratic | 1893–1897 | ||
| William Dawson | Republican | 1897–1905 | ||
| Charles Swisher | Republican | 1905–1909 | ||
| Stuart F. Reed | Republican | 1909–1917 | ||
| Houston G. Young | Republican | 1917–1925 | ||
| George W. Sharp | Republican | 1925–1933 | ||
| William O'Brien | Democratic | 1933–1948 | ||
| Daniel Pitt O'Brien | Democratic | 1948–1957 | ||
| Helen F. Holt | Republican | 1957–1958 | ||
| Joe F. Burdett | Democratic | 1958–1965 | ||
| Robert Bailey | Democratic | 1965–1969 | ||
| Jay Rockefeller | Democratic | 1969–1973 | ||
| Hike Heiskell | Republican | 1973–1975 | ||
| James R. McCartney | Republican | 1975–1977 | ||
| A. James Manchin | Democratic | 1977–1985 | ||
| Ken Hechler | Democratic | 1985–2001 | ||
| Joe Manchin | Democratic | 2001–2005 | ||
| Betty Ireland | Republican | 2005–2009 | ||
| Natalie Tennant | Democratic | 2009–2017 | ||
| Mac Warner | Republican | 2017–present |