State Sen. Leland Yee today announced his intent to run for California secretary of state in the 2014 election.
Yee, D-San Francisco, who will be termed out of office that year, is seeking to head the agency that oversees the state’s elections and monitors campaign and lobbyist financial information.
Debra Bowen, the current secretary of state, is also being termed out of office in 2014.
Among his qualifications for the position, Yee cited a law he authored that allowed Californians to register to vote online. More than 1 million people used the system to register or re-register to vote in the Nov. 6 election.
Yee also said he wants to explore the possibility of voting online.
“If we can safely pay our bills via the Internet and board an airplane with a smartphone, we should be able to securely and easily vote electronically as well,” Yee said in a statement.
He has authored several laws to increase transparency in state government, including one this year that increased fees for lobbyists to fund the maintenance of Cal-Access, the state’s database that tracks campaign contributions and lobbying activity.
Yee is a former San Francisco supervisor who ran for mayor in 2011, finishing in fifth place.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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