Secretary of State John Merrill
Born in Randolph County and raised in Cleburne County, John Merrill graduated from Cleburne High School and The University of Alabama, where he was elected President of the Student Government Association.
In 2010, John ran for and won a seat in the Alabama Legislature from House District 62 representing southern and eastern Tuscaloosa County. During his time in the legislature, John was known as a reform-minded conservative. He fought for and helped pass sweeping ethics reform, legislation protecting the unborn, and worked to rein in the size of government.
In 2014, John launched a successful campaign for Secretary of State on a platform of continuing to reduce the size of government and bringing winning conservative principles to Montgomery.
While serving as Alabama’s 53rd Secretary of State John has continued to bring conservative-minded reforms to government. Made it easier to vote and harder to cheat by implementing America’s toughest voter ID law, all while cleaning the state’s voter rolls and registering record numbers of citizens.
– Slashed his office budget and saved Alabama taxpayers millions by reducing overhead, ending duplication of services, and making government operate at the speed of business.
– Created new online tools for businesses allowing their filings to be processed in one-day instead of the 7 months it took when he came into office.
– Promoted adoption services and fought to make it easier for families to bring a child into their home by removing red-tape.