CURRENT OCCUPATION: Deputy Secretary of State CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: www.christijacobsen.com
on business filings, reduced staff by a third, consolidated government leases from 4 locations to 1, and saved millions of dollars. We were one of the first states to implement remote notarization. We served our voters by strengthening the integrity of our elections and implemented security best practices.
Arrow-Circle-Right Briefly introduce yourself. I have over 20 years of combined public and private sector experience, with a Bachelor’s Degree from Carroll College and a Master’s Degree from University of Montana in Public Administration. I was born and raised in Helena where my husband and I raised our five kids. I currently serve as the Deputy Secretary of State. Under my leadership in the last three plus years, we have successfully improved services to businesses and voters while reducing spending. We were first in the nation to go completely digital with business filings, offered businesses to file 24/7 and on their mobile phone. As a result, we eliminated 50,000 errors
Arrow-Circle-Right What makes you the pro-business candidate for this office? As your next Secretary of State, I will strongly advocate for Montana businesses and economy. Government doesn’t grow the economy, businesses do. I will partner with the business community to make Montana a business friendly state and grow jobs to keep Montana kids here. During my time as Deputy Secretary of State, we have not increased fees on businesses, and I promise no fee increases for the next four years as your next Secretary of State. With our business first approach that I have instituted, when Montana businesses call our office for help, wait times have been reduced from up to two hours to 30 seconds. During the shelter in place, our office remained open to the public and continued to serve businesses safely without delay including offering remote online notarization. Also, as a member of the Land Board I will vote to support agriculture, responsibly develop
our natural resources and reduce bureaucracy. Arrow-Circle-Right What will you do to further streamline business services in this position? Under my leadership as the Deputy Secretary of State, we have already streamlined business services by being the first in the nation to go completely digital, providing service on your mobile phone 24/7 days a week, eliminating 50,000 errors annually and providing quicker responses to the businesses that contact our office. As a result of more efficient service, business filing fees have not been increased and will not be increased under my continued leadership. We have created a culture of continuous improvement and will build upon these achievements.
SECRETARY OF STATE
CHRISTI JACOBSEN
Arrow-Circle-Right Like most elected officials, Secretaries of State can bring their own projects or initiatives to the job. What would you do that’s outside the formal job description? Montana is currently using a 20-year-old election system that is outdated and needs to be replaced. We procured a new system that now needs to be implemented which will strengthen election integrity. As your next Secretary of State, this is a priority for me to finish the job. stop
EYE ON THE VOTE 2020
17
