On Monday, June 21, Hon. Chris Johnson started as Deputy Secretary of State for Information Services, Chief Information Officer for the Maine Department of Secretary of State.

Johnson, a former state senator from Lincoln County, most recently served as the IT integration specialist at the Island Institute. He also previously worked as the Senior Network Architect at Central Maine Power and as the Director of IT at DeskNet Inc.

“Chris’s passion for public service, his technical expertise, and his dedication to privacy and transparency make him perfect for this role,” said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. “Technology modernization to better serve the people of Maine is one of my highest priorities. The pandemic has revealed challenges and opportunities for technology integration to improve public services, and I am thrilled that Chris has joined our team to lead these efforts.”

“Technology modernization has the potential to make Mainers’ lives easier as well as ease burdens on our workforce and our municipal partners, but only if done correctly,” said Johnson. “I’m looking forward to digging in on these issues with the top-notch Information Services staff to show how government can work, work well, and be resilient in the face of unexpected challenges.”

Among other efforts, the Department is currently in a multi-year process of replacing the current Central Voter Registration system, which was first installed in 2007 and implementing automatic voter registration, a 2019 law to automatically register eligible Mainers to vote when they interact with the BMV. Legislation requiring the Department to implement online voter registration is currently pending in the Legislature.