Alex Astley
How does your experience make you qualified to represent the people?
As a Professional Engineer and Engineering Manager at an electric utility, I’m well-versed in building and maintaining complex systems with life-changing stakes, as well as handling routine business operations. I’ve spent years leading a team of technical subject-matter-experts who can execute a task when given clear direction and goals. As Secretary of State, I can bring that clear purpose and establish organizational objectives for all the teams in the office. I also expect to leverage my business networking skills to build relationships with county clerks and other agency leaders, so that we can better serve the public.
What are your top policy priorities?
1. Trust must be earned again for our elections – Modern discourse about the 2020 and 2024 general elections, as well as the latest Los Angeles mayoral primary election are primary indicators that the current election processes do not have the trust of the public. They need to be simple for voters and thorough for administrators. Mailing ballots to all voters for them to research and complete at home has been excellent, but they should be turned in by each voter with positive verification of who we are. People have a right to privacy but governments do not. The election process should be publicly documented and independently audited every step of the way.
2. State records should not be a maze – There are tens of thousands of pages of government regulations, and even more rulemaking commentary, historic copies, and notes. The public record has become a rats nest of messy and contradictory rules. AI models should be trained on all statues, regulations, and notes so that the public can ask questions and be guided to relevant information. No AI should ever interpret the law, simply present it in the light as it is written.
3. Business regulation should not be punitive – While disputing unjustified fines charged by the Secretary of State’s office, one of my close business-owning friends has been threatened with lawsuits and the continued accrual of fines before being offered a reduced settlement without admission of any wrongdoing by the state’s office. Minor disagreements and errors should never default to fines, and the culture in this office needs to be made into one of civic assistance instead of revenue collection.
What is one issue you think is being overlooked in this race, and how would you address it?
I have not seen any other candidates highlight concerns with how state records and laws are stored and presented to the public. Citizens and business owners currently navigate a maze of contradictory statues and regulations from multiple agencies in order to do things as simple as installing solar panels at their home or registering to work as a cosmetologist. The Secretary of State's office can and should be taking action to simplify presentation of these laws to the public. I want to see this office deploy assisted-search features which the public can use to ask questions and be pointed towards relevant state documents and codes. The tools should never interpret the laws for people, but can show them what they need to read and help other agencies clean up contradictory laws.
Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.
