Colorado county clerks attended the Colorado County Clerks Association Winter Conference in Colorado Springs last week. The conference was a way for clerks to encourage each other and process the 2024 election cycle “despite the threats, nastiness and misinformation.”
“I love the clerk’s conference. It is a valuable resource for me,” Montezuma County Clerk Kim Percell told The Journal on Wednesday. “We are able to connect directly with the Secretary of State's office, the Department of Revenue, other county recording departments and vendors. It provides a place to discuss the current and proposed legislative statutes, along with best practices or things that just don’t work the way they were supposed to.”
Percell added that being able to spend time with the “clerk community” made the conference especially special.
“To me, the true treasures are the hallway collaborations between people, the sharing of new ideas and the opportunity to let go of the stress and reenergize with a little love shared from our Clerk community,” Percell said.
Testimonials from clerks across the state noted the way clerks supported each other “despite county size or political party” throughout the 2024 election year.
“The story of 2024 should be one of solidarity and character. Throughout it all, we supported each other despite county size or political party. We responded, we adapted and we got the job done,” Molly Fitzpatrick, Boulder County clerk, said in her farewell speech as the president of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
The association swore in its new president, Jackson County Clerk Hayle Johnson, at the conference.
In a press release, Percell shared that one of the best parts of the conference was a workshop held by Hilary Rudy, the deputy elections director for the Secretary of State’s Office.
During Rudy’s workshop, clerks were invited to share what was on their minds regarding rules and regulations in place.
“Clerks didn’t hold back, questioning some of the rules they thought made no sense or were just plain busy work and making suggestions for changes,” Lynn Bartels, former communications director at the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, said in a press release.
Clerks even had the opportunity to speak on the “rocky relationship” they have with Democrat Secretary of State Jena Griswold. Griswold took office in 2019.
“The open communication with the SOS related to specific headache topics from the 2024 election offered a glimpse that they were both aware and interested in the issues that the clerks had,” Percell said in the news release. “Sometimes being heard is the best way to mend frayed relations. It might take time … to recover the trust.”
The majority of counties in Colorado have less than 10,000 voters. According to the press release, 15,436 ballots were cast in Montezuma County last November, with 36,175 in La Plata County. For comparison, there were 369,452 votes cast in Denver County.
The summer conference will take place in Burlington in June. It will primarily be hosted by Eastern Plains clerks.
