Why does THE SAME STATE AGENCY handle Corporate Registrations and Elections Administration?!?

"If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them."
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Without prematurely disclosing details, this author is in the process of forming a for-profit entity.  It is what it is.  Exciting times and all that.

As we go through this process, however, one question lingers: Why does this go through the office of the Secretary of State?!?

Isn't the Sec'y of State the state agency that handles elections?!?

The truth, of course, is that the Secretary of State's office handles both.  But that's a problem (or at least it should be).  When a large bureaucracy is charged with such wildly different responsibilities, we shouldn't be surprised when it handles them poorly.

To be fair, both corporate registrations and elections administration are valid functions of government.  So there's nothing inherently wrong with the state of Texas being involved in these areas.  Whatever historical accident placed those two duties under the same roof, however, illustrates how government works.

Over the past year, the Secretary of State's office has come under considerable criticism.  Much of it valid.  That being said, having gone through the past week an a half, we can't help wondering if maybe that agency is just trying to do too much.

Bottom Line:  When you throw a bunch of different objectives into a bureaucratic hodge-podge, you shouldn't be surprised when it performs at least some of them poorly.