The Secretary of the State for Connecticut is the official keeper of a wide array of public records and documents. The office publishes, distributes and sells the State Register and Manual, registers and licenses various businesses and commercial lenders, runs the state's elections, officially documents legislation, regulations and other acts of the state government, and responds to more than 600,000 requests for information annually. The current secretary is Democrat Denise Merrill, who was first elected in November 2010, and who is running for re-election this November. She is being challenged by Republican Susan Chapman, Mike DeRosa of the Green Party, and Libertarian Party nominee Heather Gywn