# Mark Ritchie (politician) *American politician; former Minnesota secretary of state* Donald Mark Ritchie (born December 21, 1951) is an American politician and a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was elected the 21st [[Minnesota Secretary of State]] on November 7, 2006, and won re-election in 2010.[^1] Before taking office he was president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, based in [[Minneapolis]], from 1986 until 2006.[^1] As secretary of state he presided over the 2008 recount in the [[United States Senate]] contest between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. According to Wikipedia's account, the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] unanimously sided with the recount's conclusions.[^1] The [[Legislative Auditor]] investigated how his campaign obtained a state program's e-mail list. The Auditor found that no law had been broken because the list was public data. It also found that Ritchie had not met his legal obligation to answer its request for information fully and on time, a finding he disputed.[^1] His later roles include co-chair of the Minnesota USA Expo Bid Committee and Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for Minnesota. He was also president of Global Minnesota from 2019 to 2022.[^1] ## Early life and career Ritchie was born in Georgia. He lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Iowa and Alaska before finishing high school in Iowa.[^1] He graduated from Iowa State University in 1971 and, in 2013, from the [[Humphrey School of Public Affairs]] at the [[University of Minnesota]]. He and his wife have made their home in [[Minnesota]] since 1980.[^1] As president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy from 1986 to 2006, Ritchie led a non-profit that worked with businesses, churches, farm organizations and civic groups toward the long-term sustainability of rural Minnesota communities. Among other subjects, the Institute examined the effect of global trade rules on family farmers and rural communities.[^1] He was also the founder of the League of Rural Voters.[^1] In 1994 he co-founded the Global Environment & Trade Study at Yale University, a research effort on links between international trade and the environment. That year he also began a conference series for the 50th anniversary of postwar global institutions, among them the World Bank, the IMF and the United Nations. The 1994 conference at the Mt. Washington Hotel brought back attendees of the original 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.[^1] During the 2000 presidential election, Ritchie was one of 52 farm and rural activists who formed the Family Farmers' National Alliance for Nader/LaDuke in support of Ralph Nader's campaign.[^1] In 2004 he took a leave of absence from the Institute to lead National Voice. National Voice was a national coalition of non-partisan church, business and community organizations. More than 400 of its Minnesota member organizations formed the Minnesota Participation Project.[^1] ## Secretary of State Ritchie won the office in the November 2006 general election. He had the backing of the Secretary of State Project, which Wikipedia describes as a progressive organization formed in response to the 2000 presidential election.[^1] Wikipedia's account also states that he is widely credited with increasing the number of overseas military voters in Minnesota elections, but it gives no figure for the increase.[^1] In 2007 Ritchie said at first that he did not know how his campaign had come to hold a list of e-mail addresses of participants in a state-sponsored program. The list had been used to send a citizen a request for political contributions.[^1] After the Legislative Auditor of Minnesota investigated, he acknowledged that he had personally passed the publicly available list to his campaign. Republican leaders in the state cited inconsistencies in his statements about his role and called for his resignation.[^1] The Auditor concluded that the campaign's use of the list broke no law, since the list was public data. Wikipedia quotes the Auditor as saying that Ritchie "did not fulfill his legal obligation to make a full and timely response to a request for information from the Legislative Auditor"; Ritchie disputed that statement.[^1] Ritchie took over as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State in January 2011 and was formally sworn in on February 12, 2011. He succeeded a president who had been defeated in the 2010 midterm elections. His term was set to run until the association's summer meeting in West Virginia.[^1] ### 2008 election Ritchie oversaw the 2008 recount in the United States Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. Wikipedia calls it the most publicly scrutinized recount in the history of the Senate.[^1] The Minnesota Supreme Court was unanimous in supporting the recount's conclusions.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Mark Ritchie (politician)* (revision 1322722826, retrieved 2026-10-25) — birth date, education, career, election dates, the 2008 recount, the Legislative Auditor's findings on the e-mail list, and the National Association of Secretaries of State presidency; CC BY-SA 4.0. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ritchie_(politician)>