Mark Ritchie
Encyclopedia
Donald Mark Ritchie was elected the 21st Minnesota Secretary of State on November 7, 2006. He was re-elected in 2010. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...

. He grew up in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, and graduated from Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 in 1971. He and his wife, Nancy Gaschott, have lived in Minneapolis since 1986.

Early life and career

From 1986 until 2006, Ritchie served as the president of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is a non-profit research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable food, farm, and trade systems...

, a non-profit organization working with businesses, churches, farm organizations, and civic groups to foster long-term sustainability for Minnesota’s rural communities. Among other issues, it looked into how global trade rules impact family farmers and rural communities. He also founded the League of Rural Voters.

In 1994, Ritchie was a co-founder of the Global Environment & Trade Study, located at Yale University, which conducted research on the linkages and potential synergies between international trade and the environment. That year, he also organized a conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference. The 1994 conference, held at the Mt. Washington Hotel, featured a return of many of the "old timers" who had attended the 1944 conference or other founding conferences for the postwar economic system.

In 2000 during the presidential election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....

, Ritchie was one of 52 farm and rural activists who formed "Family Farmers’ National Alliance for Nader/LaDuke" to support the presidential campaign
Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 2000
Ralph Nader ran in the 2000 United States presidential election as the nominee of the Green Party. He was also nominated by the Vermont Progressive Party and the United Citizens Party of South Carolina...

 of Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

.

In 2004, Ritchie took a leave of absence from the Institute to lead National Voice, a national coalition of non-partisan organizations from across the country made up of church, business, and community organizations. National Voice included over 400 Minnesota organizations that formed the Minnesota Participation Project. The national media campaign called "November 2" and the constituent organizations helped voters find new ways to get involved in the elections. Their goal was to register and turn out over 5 million new voters nationwide. As part of this work, he appeared on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

 with Jon Stewart on Election Night 2004.

Ritchie was asked in 2005 to testify before the Midwest Regional Hearing of the National Commission On The Voting Rights Act about the importance of voting and the challenges minority voters faced in 2004.

Ritchie was re-elected as Secretary of State on November 2, 2010, defeating Republican
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...

 challenger Dan Severson
Dan Severson
Daniel Mark "Dan" Severson is an American politician. He is a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives who represented District 14A, which includes portions of Benton and Stearns counties in the north central part of the state. He was also a candidate for Minnesota Secretary of...

.

Secretary of State

Mark Ritchie was elected Minnesota's Secretary of State in the November 2006 General Election. He was supported by the Secretary of State Project
Secretary of State Project
Formed in the fall of 2006 by a group of progressive California activists, the Secretary of State Project is an American non-profit, progressive or liberal 527 political action committee focused on electing reform-minded progressive Secretaries of State in battleground states, who typically oversee...

, a progressive organization formed in response to the 2000 presidential election.http://www.secstateproject.org/

In 2008, Ritchie presided over the most publicly scrutinized recount in the history of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, the election contest of Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

 and Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...

. The Minnesota Supreme Court
Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota and consists of seven members. The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a territory. The first members were lawyers from outside of the region who were appointed by...

 unanimously supported the conclusions of the recount.

Ritchie is also widely credited with increasing the number of overseas military voters in Minnesota elections.

In 2007, Ritchie initially denied knowing how his campaign received a list of e-mail addresses of participants in a state-sponsored program. The list was used to send a citizen an e-mail asking for political contributions. After an investigation by the Legislative Auditor of Minnesota he admitted that he personally transferred the list, which was publicly available, to his campaign. State Republican leaders, citing inconsistencies from him regarding his role in his campaign's procurement of the list, called on him to resign. The Legislative Auditor determined that he had not broken any laws by allowing his campaign to use the e-mail list because it was public data. However, the Auditor did say that he "did not fulfill his legal obligation to make a full and timely response to a request for information from the Legislative Auditor," although he disputed this statement.

In January, 2011, he became the president of the century-old National Association of Secretaries of State
National Association of Secretaries of State
The National Association of Secretaries of State , founded in 1904, is the oldest non-partisan professional organization of public officials in the United States, composed of the Secretaries of State of U.S. states and territories. Currently, all secretaries of state, including Washington D.C.,...

, and was formally sworn-in on February 12, 2011. His term, succeeding a predecessor who was defeated in the 2010 midterm elections, ends when the organization holds its summer meeting in West Virginia.

2008 election

In Minnesota, the main duty of the Secretary of State is running the state's elections. The 2008 elections were particularly busy for Ritchie and his staff. The Secretary of State's office oversaw the November 2008 General Election, in which a record number of votes were cast, a statewide recount in a primary race for the Minnesota Supreme Court, recounts in the general elections contest of several state legislative races, and the disputed and highly-publicized U.S. Senate race.

The 2008 U.S. Senate race
United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008
The 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 4, 2008. After a legal battle lasting over eight months, Al Franken from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate...

 initially had a margin of 206 votes separating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...

 and Democratic challenger Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, out of almost three million votes cast. The narrow margin in this election mandated a
state-wide recount of all ballots. The recount was run by the nonpartisan Minnesota Canvassing Board which was chaired by Ritchie, and included Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson
G. Barry Anderson
Grant Barry Anderson is currently an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, sworn into office on October 13, 2004...

, Ramsey County District Court Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin, and Assistant Chief Judge Edward Cleary. Some conservative commentators accused Ritchie of bias during the Senate recount, saying the fact that he accepted contributions and an endorsement from ACORN
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...

 during his 2006 campaign compromised his integrity as Secretary of State. Most Minnesotans were generally supportive of Ritchie, the canvassing board, and the way that election and recount were handled, as shown by polls taken at the time and statements from public figures, including Republicans such as Governor Tim Pawlenty
Tim Pawlenty
Timothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...

 and previous Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer
Mary Kiffmeyer
Mary Kiffmeyer is an American politician who served as the 20th Minnesota Secretary of State from 1999 to 2007.She was subsequently elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2008, and currently represents District 16B....

.

Election results

External links

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