ABSTRACT
Ron Thornburgh's intimate knowledge of the workings of the office helped him transition quickly to the position, because "there weren't a lot of unexpected elements to the job itself. But what he did not expect was the increased role of the federal government in the elections process after 2000 presidential election. Thornburgh began working for the Kansas Secretary of State as a college sophomore, when he worked in the mail room as the Secretary's driver. Thornburgh was the incoming president of National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) in the year immediately following that fateful election. At the time, he recalled, 'Congress was highly prepared to overreact. And they were ready to move election responsibility from the county courthouse to Congress. They wanted to move everything to Washington'. But as Thornburgh stresses throughout his career as Kansas Secretary of State, 'The rationale behind federal intervention has to be to provide support and resources and in some cases, guidance'.
