Secretary of State stops in Rowan County – Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall made a stop in Rowan County Saturday for her re-election campaign, speaking to local Democrats about the duties of her office and why she believes she is the best person for the job.

Marshall appeared at the Rowan County Democratic Party’s monthly breakfast Saturday as part of her campaign. She is running for re-election against Republican candidate Chad Brown, the current chairman of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners.

She took the opportunity to explain exactly what the Secretary of State’s office does, talk about her experience going up against NASCAR legend Richard Petty in 1996 and answer voters’ questions about national and state elections.

In 1996, Marshall was finishing her first term as a state senator, which she chose to run for because she said she made repeated trips to Raleigh to speak with officials about policy changes she believed had been made, but her concerns were ignored once she left Raleigh.

“They would sit in their office and say, ‘Yes, you’re right. I agree with you,’ and then they would vote the exact opposite. They were either lying or they didn’t understand what I was saying. It didn’t make any difference, I decided I was going to run. If I couldn’t influence a vote, I was going to be a vote,” Marshall said.

When the primary for secretary of state came around, Marshall said she decided to run because the Democratic Party was looking for women who would be a good fit. Before winning the primary that year, Democrats had never nominated a woman to statewide office. Her reward for winning the primary was a chance to face Petty in the November election.

“(Petty) was my first opponent and nobody gave me a chance. I’m one of those people who underestimates me and better watch out,” Marshall said.

Marshall defeated Petty with 53.48 percent of the vote to Petty’s 45.17 percent, making her the first woman elected to statewide office in North Carolina. Since then, several other female politicians have joined the state board, including former Gov. Bev Purdue, North Carolina’s first female governor, and current Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt.

Marshall also spoke Saturday about the role the Secretary of State’s Department plays in North Carolina.

“The mission of the Secretary of State is to promote economic development, capital formation, we have some consumer protection and to promote electronic commerce between governments and then between citizens’ businesses and governments,” Marshall said.

Marshall noted that cybersecurity and customer service were two of the main aspects of the tasks she worked on.

“People often ask me what my biggest concern is at night. Cybersecurity is always my number one concern. The second concern is customer service, servicing clients, meeting them where they are. When people come to us, they want to form a corporation, they want to become notaries, they want to have an investment opportunity. They’re putting their hopes and dreams on the line, and it’s our job to efficiently manage those electronic documents and get them to the starting gate,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the Rural RISE NC initiative, which aims to provide people in all regions of the state with access to mentors, connections and support specific to the county they are in rather than just Raleigh, is part of her work to improve those aspects. She said the initiative aims to bridge the economic divide between urban and rural areas, a topic she is passionate about because she grew up on a family farm in rural Maryland and understood “what it feels like to feel disadvantaged because you’re far from government or you’re small and nobody cares.”

Marshall is being challenged by Republican candidate Brown, a former mayor of Stanley and chairman of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners. Brown’s priorities, as listed on his website, are to protect “elections and ensure every vote is counted,” “promote innovation and small business growth” and “protect our consumers from fraud and identity theft.”

“I like to think that my calling here is to fight for everyday people to help them navigate a crowded government. Working in economic development and being involved in many other facets of local government has prepared me to want more,” Brown wrote on his campaign website.

North Carolina is one of 12 states in the country where the secretary of state does not oversee elections.