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Secretaries of State of the State of Ohio: 1788 - present
From 1802 to 1851, the Secretaries of State were elected by joint ballot of the two houses of the General Assembly, for a term of three years. Under the Constitution of 1851, the office was made elective by the people, and the length of the term was fixed at two years. By an amendment adopted in 1954, the term of office is now four years.
| Name of Secretary of State | Politics | County | Term of Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winthrop Sargent | 1788-1798 | ||
| William Henry Harrison | 1798-1799 | ||
| Charles Willing Byrd | 1799-1803 | ||
| William Creighton Jr. | Rep. | 1803-1808 | |
| Jeremiah McLene | Dem. | Ross (Later Franklin Co.) | 1808-1831 |
| Moses H. Kirby | Whig | Highland | 1831-1835 |
| Benjamin B. Hinkson | Dem. | Clinton | 1835-1836 |
| Carter B. Harlan | Dem. | Clinton | 1836-1840 |
| William Trevitt | Dem. | Perry | 1840-1841 |
| John Sloane | Whig | Jefferson | 1841-1844 |
| Samuel Galloway | Whig | Ross (Later Franklin Co.) | 1844-1850 |
| Henry W. King | Free Soil | Summit | 1850-1852 |
| William Trevitt | Dem. | Perry | 1852-1856 |
| James H. Baker | Rep. | Ross | 1856-1858 |
| Addison P. Russell | Rep. | Clinton | 1858-1862 |
| Benjamin R. Cowen | Rep. | Hamilton | 1862- |
| Wilson S. Kennon | Rep. | Belmont | 1862-1863 |
| William W. Armstrong | Dem. | Columbiana | 1863-1865 |
| William H. Smith | Rep. | Hamilton | 1865-1868 |
| John Russell | 1868-1869 | ||
| Isaac R. Sherwood | Rep. | Lucas | 1869-1873 |
| Allen T. Wikoff | Rep. | Adams | 1873-1875 |
| William Bell Jr. | Dem. | Licking | 1875-1877 |
| Milton Barnes | Rep. | Guernsey | 1877-1881 |
| Charles Townsend | Rep. | Athens | 1881-1883 |
| James W. Newman | Dem. | Scioto | 1883-1885 |
| James S. Robinson | Rep. | Hardin | 1885-1889 |
| Daniel J. Ryan | Rep. | Scioto | 1889-1891 |
| Christian L. Poorman | Rep. | Belmont | 1891-1893 |
| Samuel M. Taylor | Rep. | Champaign | 1893-1897 |
| Charles Kinney | Rep. | Scioto | 1897-1901 |
| Lewis C. Laylin | Rep. | Huron | 1901-1907 |
| Carmi Thompson | Rep. | Lawrence | 1907-1911 |
| Charles H. Graves | Dem. | Ottawa | 1911-1915 |
| C.Q. Hildebrant | Rep. | Clinton | 1915-1917 |
| William D. Fulton | Dem. | Licking | 1917-1919 |
| Harvey C. Smith | Rep. | Muskingum | 1919-1923 |
| Thad H. Brown | Rep. | Franklin | 1923-1927 |
| Clarence J. Brown | Rep. | Clinton | 1927-1933 |
| George S. Myers | Dem. | Cuyahoga | 1933-Dec. 1933 |
| William J. Kennedy | Dem. | Cuyahoga | Dec. 1936-Jan. 1939 |
| Earl Griffith | Rep. | Morrow | 1939-Apr. 1940 |
| George M. Neffiner | Rep. | Clinton | April 1940-Jan. 1941 |
| John E. Sweeney | Dem. | Cuyahoga | 1941-1943 |
| Edward J. Hummel | Rep. | Hamilton | 1943-1949 |
| Charles F. Sweeney | Dem. | Erie | 1949-1951 |
| Ted W. Brown | Rep. | Clark | 1951-1979 |
| Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. | Dem. | Cuyahoga | 1979-1983 |
| Sherrod Brown | Dem. | Richland | 1983-1991 |
| Bob Taft | Rep. | Franklin | 1991-1999 |
| J. Kenneth Blackwell | Rep. | Hamilton | 1999-2007 |
| Jennifer Brunner | Dem. | Franklin | 2007-2011 |
| Jon Husted | Rep. | Montgomery | 2011-2019 |
| Frank LaRose | Rep. | Summit | 2019- |