What does the County Clerk do?

Short answer: The County Clerk is an independently elected executive branch official who administers the law as they oversee elections, the marriage license and passport acceptance office, serve as clerk of the Board of Commissioners and supervises the records department. 

Audiovisual answer: Check out this animated video and diagram: https://www.russjrampton.com/county_clerk_duties

Long answer: This is for my fellow policy-geeks. The rest of you feel free to skim the bold headings.

The founding documents of our Nation and State clearly identify the source and purpose of government powers. From the Declaration of Independence: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The source of government power is the consent of the governed; the purpose of government power is to secure the rights of the people. 

The framers of the Constitution wisely split the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government into separate branches. While there was much debate during the constitutional convention and ratification conventions about the specific details of these branches, there was general consensus that division of government powers into three separate branches was a good idea. A three branch government was common in state constitutions at the time and continues in the state constitutions of today, including the Utah State Constitution.

As outlined in Utah State Code and in Utah County Ordinances, the County Clerk has many statutory obligations and responsibilities.

The County Clerk is an independently elected official. They do not report to the Board of Commissioners, their authority comes directly from the people. 

The County Clerk is an executive branch official. They are charged with the duty of executing laws and administering policy. They do not have any direct legislative authority. The laws governing their power are found in state code and county ordinances. Because counties are subdivisions of the state, County officials are bound by both documents. While a County Clerk may advocate for and influence policy at both the state and county level they are not in position to determine or vote on issues of policy.

The County Clerk is a leader of career service employees. Each department of county government is staffed by career service employees. Their hiring and firing is not at the whim of the elected official. The Clerk provides vision and direction for the office, leading and motivating them to do their best. Many employees are “deputized” giving them delegated authority to act for the clerk in the discharge of their statutory duties.

The County Clerk is the Election Officer for the county. As the election officer, the County Clerk is responsible for administering elections consistent with state law. Chapter 20A of the state code is a detailed list of requirements that the County Clerk and their deputies must do for every election. Some laws are direct and straightforward: “an election officer shall administer an election primarily by mail” (20A-3a-202-1) followed by a list of detailed instructions of when, how, and to whom ballots shall be mailed. Others give the Clerk some leeway in how they will implement a law. For example, in an election administered by a county the clerk “shall provide at least one election day voting center” (20A-3a-202-8a). The exact number and location of those is left to the discretion of the County Clerk. In Utah County, this is usually somewhere between five large voting centers or ten medium sized voting centers.

The County Clerk is responsible for marriage licenses. Couples desiring to marry must first obtain a marriage license from a county office. Following their ceremony the officiant performing their ceremony must submit the license with the necessary information back to the marriage license for recording, archiving, and issuing certified copies of the license to the couple. Utah County has a first-of-its kind online Marriage License application and Officiant Submission portal. I have personally been instrumental in this program’s success and hope to see it flourish. The County Clerk also has the authority and obligation to perform wedding ceremonies and can designate others with that authority as well. 

The County Clerk operates a Passport Acceptance Facility. The U.S. Department of State works with local government offices such as city offices and post offices to establish Passport Acceptance Facilities. At these locations people can submit their passport applications and a trained and certified passport acceptance agent can check their application for accuracy and send the application in for processing. The passport office operated by the Utah County Clerk is one of the most accessible, most productive, and highest rated acceptance offices in the state. We have over a dozen certified passport acceptance agents with at least three of them on staff whenever we are open which includes evenings and weekends. 

The County Clerk is the Clerk of the Board of Commissioners. County legislative powers, some executive power and some quasi-judicial powers are vested in the Board of County Commissioners as a body. The County Clerk is the Clerk of this board, responsible for publishing their agendas and minutes. It is the responsibility of the Clerk to make sure that the decisions and actions of this board are conducted in the light of day and transparent to the public.

The County Clerk is the Records Officer of the County. While the County Recorder has responsibility for recording property deeds, it is the County Clerk who has responsibility for all other government records created by the county. They chair the Records Policy Administration board consisting of representatives from all county departments. This board is responsible for coordination, training, and administration of records from the various departments. They also directly supervise the records department who digitize and store all the official records of the county.

The County Clerk is given charge of and is the custodian of the county seal and the county logo. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but if elected I will guard the county seal and logo to the best of my ability.