HARRISBURG, Pa (WTAJ) – Governor Tom Wolf announced Monday, Dec. 27, that Leigh M. Chapman will be named Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth starting Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

Chapman currently serves as an executive director of Deliver My Vote, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that focuses on research and education about voting through the mail. Chapman previously worked in the Department of State as the policy director from 2015-2017.

With Chapman’s background and experience with Deliver My Vote, she’ll be able to help the Department of State protect elections from outside hackers, assist in moving counties to paper-based machines, and administer the introduction of a broad new mail-in voting law.

Chapman will become the department’s fifth secretary or acting secretary since Wolf became governor in 2015. She will be replacing Acting Secretary Veronica Degraffenreid, who is moving up in the administration as a special advisor to the governor.

“I am honored and excited to be returning to the Department of State to serve as ​Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Chapman said. “Throughout my career I have worked to ensure that voting rights are protected, and to improve access to the ballot box. I look forward to continuing that work in my new role, and to build on the tremendously successful election reforms in Pennsylvania over the last several years.”