Joan Ruth Anderson Growe (born September 28, 1935) is an American politician who served as Secretary of State of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

from 1975 to 1999. Known for her work to encourage voter participation, her 24-year tenure was the longest of any secretary of state in Minnesota's history. In 1984, she unsuccessfully challenged Republican

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Rudy Boschwitz Rudolph Ely Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930) is an American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 1978 until 1991. Boschwitz is a member of the Republican Party. He was born in Berlin to a Jewish ...

, losing the election with 41% of the vote. Growe was raised in Buffalo, Minnesota and graduated from Buffalo High School and

St. Cloud State University St. Cloud State University (SCSU) is a public university in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Founded in 1869, the university is one of the largest institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Its enrollment in 2020 was approximately ...

. On August 18, 1956, she married James E. Kerr in Buffalo. That marriage ended in divorce. On June 16, 1965, she married Glen Harry Growe in Anoka County, Minnesota. Before running for secretary of state, Growe was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1973 to 1974, representing the old District 40A, which included portions of Hennepin County in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

metro area. While in the House, she served on the Crime Prevention and Corrections, the Education, the Judiciary, and the Metropolitan and Urban Affairs committees. As a state legislator, Growe supported the Minnesota same-day voter registration law (the first in the country) and later, as Secretary of State, she worked to implement it. Since then, Minnesota has consistently had the highest voter turnout in the United States. Growe is widely recognized as an expert on voting and elections, and has been selected to serve as an official election observer in various foreign elections. She is also on the advisory committee for the

Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs is a public policy and planning school at the University of Minnesota, a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Records

Files documenting the Growe's activities as secretary of state are available for research use. They include general and chronological correspondence, telephone logs, appearances, subject files, voter education and elections files, and State Board of Investment files.Joan Growe Files
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References

External links

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* ttp://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/16/midday1/ Minnesota Public Radio: Joan Growe – Trailblazing woman in Minnesota politics * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Growe, Joan 1935 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives People from Buffalo, Minnesota Politicians from Minneapolis Secretaries of State of Minnesota St. Cloud State University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Women state legislators in Minnesota 21st-century American women