TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis is tapping a county elections supervisor to be the next secretary of state.
DeSantis announced Friday that he will appoint Seminole County elections supervisor Michael Ertel to the position.
Ertel was appointed to his current job by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005 and has since won four elections to keep the office.
He has twice won election awards issued by the London-based International Centre for Parliamentary Studies.
He also served eight years in the Army.
He will replace Ken Detzner, who was appointed to the position in 2012 by Gov. Rick Scott.
The appointment comes as the Legislature will consider asking voters to make the secretary of state part of Florida’s independently elected Cabinet.
