Formed in the fall of 2006 by a group of progressive California activists, the Secretary of State Project is an American non-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, progressive

Progressivism in the United States

Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...

 or liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 527

527 group

A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after "Section 527" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code...

 political action committee

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

 focused on electing reform-minded progressive Secretaries of State in battleground states, who typically oversee the election process. They hope to prevent a repeat of Florida 2000, where a Republican Secretary of State, Katherine Harris

Katherine Harris

Katherine Harris is an American Republican politician, former Secretary of State of Florida, and former member of the United States House of Representatives. Harris won the 2002 election to represent Florida's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She held that post...

, appeared to take a partisan role in helping to determine the 2000 presidential election results.

A notable achievement of the Secretary of State Project was the election of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie

Mark Ritchie

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. He grew up in Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University in 1971...

 in 2006. Mark Ritchie

Mark Ritchie

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. He grew up in Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University in 1971...

 played a pivotal role in 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....

 winning a Senate seat from 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...

 in 2008, by examining the disputed absentee ballots during the Minnesota Senate recount.