About Secretary Monae L. Johnson
Monae L. Johnson is South Dakota's 30th Secretary of State. Governor Noem appointed Johnson to fill the vacancy on December 5, 2022, after winning the General Election on November 8, 2022. Secretary Johnson was sworn in during the Inaugural festivities on January 7, 2023, to serve her 4 years as Secretary of State.
Johnson is a 4th generation South Dakotan who was born in Brookings, South Dakota, raised in Rapid City, and has lived and working in Pierre. Johnson had the privilege to serve 4.5 years under Secretary of State Chris Nelson and 3.5 years under Secretary of State Shantel Krebs.
Secretary Johnson is a current member of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS).
Johnson is a proud mother of six children, three of whom are adopted Native American children. Two are enrolled Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and one is enrolled Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe. She has four beautiful grandchildren.
Her children and grandchildren are Anthony, Tiana and Sebastian Johnson; Adam and Julia Johnson; Alecia and Jared, Bruce, Hank and Evelyn Bowers; Shawntay Johnson , Shawntel Johnson and Vivian Johnson.
Johnson is an entrepreneur and has started three family businesses in South Dakota. Johnson is passionate about serving people and has volunteered for many organizations: Zonta Club of the Black Hills, Rapid City Women's Network, Rapid City Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, Exchange Clubs and Optimist Clubs. She was the President of the Cen-Kota Republican Women, President of Meade County Republican Women, and the 1st Vice President of the South Dakota Federation of Republican Women. She was the South Dakota Area President of Aglow International and had the opportunity to visit Israel twice with the group.
She has been a Life Member of the National Rifle Association for over 40 years and loves to fish and hunt. In fact, she bagged a 6 x 6 bull elk in the Black Hills on opening day of rifle season October 1, 2001. She is also a state trapshooting champion.
Secretary Johnson is a current board member of Zonta Club of Pierre/Fort Pierre and a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). Last year she served as an alternate to the GCC. This year she will serve on the NASS Archives committee with Secretary Kim Bassett of Washington, D.C. under the newly elected president, Secretary of State Steve Simon of Minnesota.
As Secretary of State, Johnson created the Gladys Pyle Award for excellence in Young Voter Registration, launching this program during the National Voter Registration Day in September of 2023 and awarding to local high schools that registered 90% of their age eligible high school seniors.
Johnson signed a Memorandom of Understanding in December of 2023 with Dakota Wesleyan University and launched the first quarterly Economic Report on May 2024, showing trends using business filing data, which the business community uses for projecting the future.
In 2022, Johnson campaigned on the need for post-election audits in South Dakota elections. At the end of June 2024, the state county auditors submitted their first audit reports after the primary election on June 4 to the Secretary of State office which were a success and collaborates the tabulator counts on election night.
Her father had a career as a test pilot and served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam 1968-1969 and then retired at Ellsworth Air Force Base as a Lt. Colonel. One of her sons graduated from the United States Military Academy as an Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military families are near and dear to her heart.
South Dakota has a great motto "Under God the people rule". It is an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of South Dakota as their Secretary of State.