Welcome to the Office of the Secretary of State's website. We are delighted to have you visit this site. You will find numerous online services and forms throughout the website that will allow you access to our office 24 hours a day/7 days a week.
I am particularly excited to offer a new section to our site, The Secretary's Desk. The section will provide visitors access to information about initiatives in our office as well as basic information about our services and staff.
I hope that you will take the time to visit this website often as we plan to add new online services regularly. We look forward to working with you in the future and welcome any feedback that you have to offer.
Again, thanks for visiting the Office of the Secretary of State website!
Secretary of State’s Booth at the Kentucky State Fair
The Secretary of State was in force at the Kentucky State Fair! I, and members of the SoS staff, kicked off our booth on opening day, August 18, at the fairgrounds in Louisville. We met so many great people who stopped by to check out the celebrities-from-Kentucky ballot we created for our mock election so our visitors, young and old, could try out various voting machines used throughout the state on election days. Of the ten “candidates”—all famous Kentuckians—Johnny Depp “won” hands down. Seattle Slew received the second highest vote. Others on the ballot included Diane Sawyer, George Clooney, Dwight Yokum, Darrell Waltrip, Loretta Lynn, Ashley Judd, Josh Hopkins and Muhammud Ali. It was all unofficial good fun to invite our visitors the chance to vote!
I was particularly impressed with parents who brought their children by to try out the voting machines and shared with us that they take them to the polls with them when they vote. It’s clear these young people will register as soon as they turn 18 and understand how important it is to vote every time for the candidates they choose.
Lots of our visitors took the opportunity to register to vote for the first time or update their registration information. Many parents shared with us that they If you aren’t registered to vote for the November 8 general election, now is a perfect time to fill out a registration form or to share one with a friend. Forms must be mailed no later than October 10 to be registered for the November election. All the information needed to register, vote and serve at the polls is located at http://elect.ky.gov/ .
Only a meager ten percent of voters who are registered in Kentucky cast their ballot in our May primary. Surely everyone who is registered to vote in Kentucky wants to exercise their right to elect candidates of their choice and participate in Kentucky’s future.
As Claire Kresse, who attends the Brown School in Louisville, said with her first place winning slogan for the Secretary of State’s 2010-2011 contest,
“Your vote.
Your choice.
Kentucky’s future.”
SoS’s FastTrack Paves the way for “One Stop”
The Secretary of State’s office has had its “FastTrack” for business and election processes posted on our website for several years in order to make it easier to find related information in one spot.
In May, state government began the construction of a “One Stop” web portal that will further simplify business resources and requirements available with one click of a mouse. Now, just four months later and following a huge amount of work by a great team of public servants and business representatives, the “One Stop” web portal will soon be launched through state government’s web site. There, via one link, businesses may register, file annual reports, pay sales and other taxes, manage unemployment insurance and ultimately, acquire professional licenses—using “one stop” on the web rather than searching through lots of web sites. Small business owners will be able to provide their business particulars just once rather than reenter information repeatedly on myriad forms. “One Stop” streamlines “paperwork” and forms so businesses can go about their business! “One Stop” will provide a gateway to all state agencies involved in business processes, required forms, financing opportunities, and other resources--in one spot.
Along the way and to add even more convenience for our users, our team assessed what and forms and how many interactions are still relevant so unnecessary steps could be eliminated.
As co-chair with Secretary Mary Lassiter, of Governor Beshear’s executive cabinet, I’m so impressed with the committees and focus groups (which include representatives from Kentucky’s private business sector) that have worked so diligently on constructing the business “One Stop” portal. They have been determined that it serves the maximum number of users and continues to grow as information, laws and other issues change going forward. Our team works on “One Stop” in addition to their primary job responsibilities and I have no doubt that we’re going to see a fine service that provides more efficiency, expediency and cost savings for people who do business in Kentucky.
Final Call for Annual Reports
If you’re a Kentucky business owner or operator who stacked the reminders and let the June 30 deadline for annual report filing come and go, you are presently a business in bad standing with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office. File by September 9 and you retain good standing and keep your filing fee at the minimal $15 rather than a hefty raise to $115 passed September 9. Failure to do so will result in either administrative dissolution or revocation of authority for your business. Plus, you’ll need to renew other state agency requirements that can cost more time and money.
It’s a simple process; go to www.sos.ky.gov/ and click on FastTrack or go to www.sos.ky.gov/business/ . Each step is laid out for you and the report is easy and quick to file online. Call 502-564-3490 to request a copy via U.S. Mail.
The number businesses that completed their annual reports online continue to grow—saving your business and the Secretary of State’s office time and money. Nearly 85,000 annual reports—an increase of 11,000 over 2010—were filed electronically by the end of June. E-filing saves each party time and money and our office can invest more time serving our constituents in additional ways.