# Kentucky Secretary of State Adams Named Public Official of Year  
**Published:** 2025-10-08T14:09:49.000Z  
**Source:** [KY Secretary of State](https://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=SOS&prId=552)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/kentucky-secretary-of-state-adams-named-public-official-of-year

Secretary of State Michael Adams has been named [Public Official of the Year](https://www.sos.ky.gov/) by Governing Magazine, one of seven officials recognized nationally for significant positive changes in their communities.

Adams, in his second term as secretary of state, was honored for modernizing Kentucky's election system and expanding voting access while maintaining ballot security. [Governing Magazine credited Adams with "shepherding elections into the 21st century."](https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/kentucky-secretary-state-michael-adams-official-of-the-year-governing-magazine/417-544ebee5-68ea-4308-a679-45954b23cb68)

Adams' work gained particular recognition for his bipartisan approach with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear during the 2020 pandemic election. The two collaborated to expand early and absentee voting while navigating competing concerns about ballot security and voting access. "Part of why Kentucky's election in 2020 was not challenged, was not condemned, or even really even questioned, was that people saw routinely me and the governor at press conferences together, people with much different opinions about politics, but working in good faith to solve problems," Adams said.

The partnership resulted in six consecutive legislative sessions producing bipartisan election bills. "We're the only state that's doing that," Adams told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "There's no other state in the country where you have Democrats and Republicans working together in good faith to improve elections."

Kentucky's election policies hadn't been substantially updated in approximately 130 years, according to Adams. The updates he championed modernized voting procedures and added voting dates that reflected contemporary circumstances.

[Adams](https://www.sos.ky.gov/) is the first Kentuckian to receive this honor since Senate President Robert Stivers won the award a decade ago. The recognition marks his second major national honor in as many years, following the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2024. Both recognitions underscore his election work and bipartisan leadership approach during a polarized political era.

## Sources

- [KY Secretary of State](https://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=SOS&prId=552)
- [Kentucky Secretary of State official website](https://www.sos.ky.gov/)
- [WHAS11 reporting on Governing Magazine award](https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/kentucky-secretary-state-michael-adams-official-of-the-year-governing-magazine/417-544ebee5-68ea-4308-a679-45954b23cb68)
- [Northern Kentucky Tribune coverage of award](https://nkytribune.com/2025/10/secretary-adams-named-a-public-official-of-the-year-by-governing-magazine/)
- [Murray Ledger reporting on election reform efforts](https://www.murrayledger.com/news/governing-magazine-names-ky-secretary-of-state-a-public-official-of-the-year/article_48ae69a9-328d-4280-80dd-ca626ddf65f3.html)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from KY Secretary of State, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=SOS&prId=552.