Topeka ? If elected Secretary of State, Sen. David Haley promised to trim 10 percent from the office’s budget and work to guarantee accurate and accessible elections.

Haley, D-Kansas City, said Tuesday he would challenge Republican incumbent Ron Thornburgh for the post. If elected, Haley would be only the second Democrat in state history to hold the office.

Playing off the title of his uncle Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Roots,” Haley asked voters to give him a chance.

“Kansas voters should give our roots and our desire to ensure fair and equal elections a chance,” he said.

Haley, 43, has spent eight years in the Kansas Legislature. He served three terms in the House and was elected to the Senate in 2000.

His father, George Haley, was the first black elected to the state Senate in 1964. A Republican, the elder Haley went on to serve in the administration of five presidents and was the ambassador to the Republic of Gambia under President Clinton.

Haley said he would move quickly with election reform, citing problems in the 2000 presidential election in Florida. He said that election had reaffirmed many voters’ belief that their vote didn’t count.

“This office should be the cradle of democracy,” said Haley. “It is important that whether it’s one vote or 10,000 that everyone is counted.”

Election reforms proposed in Congress could signal the end for paper ballots and hand-counting of election results. Those methods would be replaced with touch-screen computers and other electronic devices capable of directly counting votes.

Besides election reform, the Secretary of State Office is preparing a digital signature program that will allow Kansans to conduct business with the state online. That project is not expected to be finished until next year.

Republicans have held the Secretary of State Office for 51 years. The only Democrat to hold it was Larry Ryan of Manhattan who many say won because he had the same last name as his Republican predecessor Frank Ryan.

Thornburgh, 39, a native of Burlingame, announced Monday he was seeking a third term. He has worked in the office for 19 years, starting in the mail room while in college.