Sharon Priest

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Sharon Priest

| honorific_suffix =

| image =

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| office = Secretary of State of Arkansas

| term_start = 1994

| term_end = 2003

| governor = Jim Guy Tucker
Mike Huckabee

| predecessor = Bill McCuen

| successor = Charlie Daniels

| office2 = 70th Mayor of Little Rock

| term_start2 = 1991

| term_end2 = 1992

| predecessor2 = Buddy Villines

| successor2 = Jim Daily Jr.

| birth_name = Sharon Mary Devlin

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|09|02}}

| birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada

| spouse = {{marriage|Bill Priest|November 1974}}

| children = 1

| party = Democratic

}}

Sharon Mary Priest (née Devlin; born September 12, 1947) is a Canadian-American politician and businessperson. Priest was mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas from 1991 to 1992 before being the first woman elected to the role of Secretary of State of Arkansas in 1994. She was re-elected in 1998 and her tenure ended in 2003. During her terms in office, she introduced an internet-based Information Network of Arkansas, encouraged participation in elections and in the 2000 US Census, and worked towards electoral reform. She also served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Background

Priest was born on September 12, 1947, in Montreal, Quebec.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hendricks |first=Nancy |encyclopedia=CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas |title=Sharon Priest (1947–) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/sharon-priest-5698/ |access-date=November 1, 2019 |date=May 3, 2016 |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |location=Little Rock}} She worked in Canada with a distributor for the American company Munsey Products before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, upon her marriage in 1974. While in Little Rock, Priest prepared taxes for H & R Block from 1976 to 1978 and worked at a real estate company she had opened from 1983 to 1986. She later was a membership director for a chamber of commerce from 1990 to 1994.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Who's Who in America, 2005 |title=Priest, Sharon Devlin |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoiname200502marq/page/3748|access-date=November 1, 2019 |page=3749 |year=2004 |volume=2 |edition=59th |publisher=Marquis Who's Who |location=New Providence |isbn=0837969840}}{{cite web |title=Priest, Sharon |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=2601 |website=Our Campaigns |accessdate=November 1, 2019}}

During this time period, Priest started her political career as a member of the board of directors (city council) for Little Rock in 1986. For the city, she was the deputy mayor of Little Rock from 1989 to 1990 and reappointed to the board of directors in 1990. The following year, Priest became the mayor of Little Rock in January and held her mayorship until December 1992.{{cite web |title=Mayors of Little Rock |url=https://www.littlerock.gov/city-administration/cityclerksoffice/mayors-of-little-rock/ |website=City of Little Rock |accessdate=November 1, 2019}}

Running as a Democrat in 1994, Priest beat Julia Hughes Jones to become the Secretary of State of Arkansas.{{cite web |title=AR Secretary of State Race - Nov 08, 1994 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3930 |website=Our Campaigns |accessdate=November 2, 2019}} With her win, Priest became the first woman to take office as Secretary of State of Arkansas as the result of an election. Overall, Priest was the second woman to become Arkansas's secretary of state, as Nancy J. Hall was appointed after her husband died during his office term in 1961.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas |title=Office of Secretary of State |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/office-of-secretary-of-state-5723/ |access-date=November 1, 2019 |date=September 16, 2019 |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |location=Little Rock}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Gardner |editor1-first=Bill |title=Pillars of Public Service: One Hundred Years of the National Association of Secretaries of State 1904–2004 |date=2004 |publisher=National Association of Secretaries of State |location=Washington D.C. |section=The States |page=51 |url=https://www.nass.org/sites/default/files/nass-history/3-States-19.pdf |access-date=November 1, 2019}}

Priest was reelected as Arkansas's Secretary of State in 1998, defeating candidate Rose Bryant Jones.{{cite web |title=AR Secretary of State - Nov 03, 1998 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=952 |website=Our Campaigns |accessdate=November 1, 2019}} She remained as Secretary of State for Arkansas until 2003. During her years in office, Priest made information about the state government, and held in the office of the Secretary of State, more accessible. In 1995, she launched the internet-based Information Network of Arkansas,{{cite news |last1=Garrett |first1=Thomas |title=State data now as close as the Internet |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156301/state_data_now_as_close_as_the/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Baxter Bulletin |date=July 29, 1998 |location=Mountain Home, Arkansas |pages=1, 15}} and also reduced the cost of photocopies of information held in the Secretary of State's offices from 80c per page to 25c per page.{{cite news |title=Secretary of State Reduces Cost Of Photocopies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/359540660/?terms=%22Sharon%2BPriest%22 |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=The Madison County Record |date=February 2, 1995 |location=Huntsville, Arkansas |page=4}} She attempted to boost the number of people voting in elections through programs such as "Honor a Vet with a Vote", designed to raise awareness "that voting is a precious right", and Mock Election, a program for high schools students which won an award offered by Time Magazine/National Association of State Boards of Education.{{cite news |last1=Garrett |first1=Thomas |title=Secretary of state hopes to increase voter turnout |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156312/secretary_of_states_hopes_to_increase/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Baxter Bulletin |date=July 29, 1998 |location=Mountain Home, Arkansas |pages=1, 15}} During 2000, she visited all counties of Arkansas to encourage participation in the federal census, after estimates that around 42,000 residents of Arkansas were omitted from the 1990 US census, resulting in a loss of $280,000,000 in federal funding.{{cite news |last1=Rios |first1=Armando |title=Priest in town to push census. Secretary of State touts its importance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156439/priest_in_town_to_push_census/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Baxter Bulletin |date=March 2, 2000 |location=Mountain Home, Arkansas |pages=1, 12}} Priest also served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State,{{cite news |last1=Seelye |first1=Katherine Q. |title=Election overhaul stalled by economy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156627/election_overhaul_stalled_by_economy/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Detroit Free Press |date=April 26, 2001 |location=Detroit, Michigan |page=4}} and chaired a committee of the association which investigated possible election reforms at the national level, and made 15 recommendations intended to avoid the voting problems of the 2000 US presidential election.{{cite news |title=State officials shun uniform standards for elections |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156652/state_officials_shun_uniform_standards/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Chicago Tribune |agency=Tribune News Services |date=February 6, 2001 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=1, S1}} Within Arkansas, Priest also wanted to change the method of tracking ballots, so that they would no longer be linked to individual voters.{{cite news |title=Secretary of state wants ballots kept secret. Editorial |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40156577/secretary_of_state_wants_ballots_kept/ |accessdate=December 6, 2019 |work=Baxter Bulletin |date=December 4, 2000 |location=Mountain Home, Arkansas |page=4}} However, the proposed electoral reforms foundered due to a downturn in the economy, and Priest was reported as saying, "Unless there's a real uprising on the part of the people in this country who will call their congressmen and senators and say, "Elections are important to us and democracy comes at a price, and we're willing to pay that price – do something!" then I'm not sure, running into budgets now, that anything's going to get done."

After her governmental position for Arkansas ended, Priest worked at the Downtown Little Rock Partnership from 2003 to 2015 as an executive director.{{cite news |last1=Nerbovig |first1=Ashley |title=Downtown Little Rock Partnership executive director to retire |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/dec/08/downtown-little-rock-partnerships-executive-direct/ |accessdate=November 1, 2019 |work=Arkansas Democrat Gazette |date=December 8, 2014}} In the late 2010s, Priest became a bookkeeper for a plumbing company run by her son.{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Cyd |title=World Services for Blind to honor Sharon Priest |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/oct/22/world-services-for-blind-to-honor-sharo/ |accessdate=November 1, 2019 |work=Arkansas Democrat Gazette |date=October 22, 2017}}