# Secretary of State Compare records and positions simply between Donald P. (Don) Wagner or Shirley N. Weber for Secretary of State at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person runs statewide elections. They also maintain business filings and the state archives. - Jurisdiction: State of California - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/secretary-of-state - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: August 30, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 96 out of 100 (Very strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Donald P. (Don) Wagner** — Orange County Supervisor · Republican - **Shirley N. Weber** — California Secretary of State · Democratic · Incumbent This office runs California's elections and keeps the state's business filings honest. Incumbent Shirley Weber won about 59% of the statewide primary vote; Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner is the Republican who advances with her to November 3. The winner runs the next four years of California elections. That means certifying results, keeping voter rolls, and publishing the official guides. The winner also keeps the state's business and campaign filings public. The power is administrative. Election law itself is written by the Legislature. The core question is how you want elections run. Weber's focus is expanding access and defending existing voting rules. Wagner wants statewide voter ID and faster ballot counting. Note that voter ID would require a new state law. The Secretary cannot impose it alone. ## Shirley N. Weber Democrat, incumbent since 2021, and the first Black Californian to hold this office. She has run two statewide election cycles and authored the 2020 law creating the nation's first state reparations task force. Her platform is voter access and steady administration. **Strengths:** Experienced, low-drama election administration at the largest scale in the country. **Trade-offs:** Critics fault California's famously slow ballot counting on her watch — final results routinely take weeks. **Keep in mind:** Her office (with the AG) sued Huntington Beach over its local voter-ID law and lost the first round in court — the legal fight over that issue is unresolved. ## Donald P. (Don) Wagner Republican; Orange County Supervisor since 2019, former Assemblymember and Irvine mayor. He runs on statewide voter ID and faster ballot counting. His case is that confidence in elections needs visible verification. **Strengths:** A long local-government record; channels real voter frustration about how long California takes to count ballots. **Trade-offs:** His signature promise, statewide voter ID, isn't in the Secretary's power to deliver without the Legislature. **Keep in mind:** His campaign leans on 'election confidence' framing — decide for yourself whether you read that as accountability or as casting doubt on a system state audits have upheld. ## Financial info - **Donald P. (Don) Wagner** - Primary: $599,662 raised (Small donors: $6,962; Individuals: $362,189; PACs & committees: $107,200; Businesses & other orgs: $91,645) - November: $56,999 raised (Individuals: $32,299; PACs & committees: $14,800; Businesses & other orgs: $9,900) - **Shirley N. Weber** - Primary: $724,231 raised (Small donors: $4,948; Individuals: $209,666; PACs & committees: $466,050; Businesses & other orgs: $37,300) - November: $16,620 raised (Individuals: $520; PACs & committees: $16,100) Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-09-21. Total is itemized (Schedule A) contributions and self-funding loans dated after the June 2, 2026 primary, through June 30, 2026 — small-dollar unitemized (under $100) contributions aren't independently dated in Cal-Access's raw export, so they aren't reflected here and this may undercount true small-donor activity since the primary. This also doesn't include money reported only on 24-hour late-contribution reports (Form 497) that haven't yet appeared in a periodic Form 460 filing. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-30. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [CalMatters — 2026 primary voter guide and statewide race coverage](https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/) 3. [LAist — June 2026 primary voter guides](https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-guides) 4. [Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State](https://www.sos.ca.gov/campaign-lobbying/helpful-resources/raw-data-campaign-finance-and-lobbying-activity) ## The rest of the ballot Secretary of State is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Secretary of State — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/secretary-of-state (sources last retrieved August 30, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.