Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft visited the Montgomery County Clerk’s Office on June 25 to discuss plans for the primary election, which is just a month away.

Ashcroft talked with County Clerk Carole Weeks for about 30 minutes to make sure she is prepared for the primary election, which is scheduled for Aug. 6. The County Clerk’s office received its ballots the week before.
Ashcroft has visited every county in Missouri for nine years. During the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago, he visited every county clerk in the state.

This year, Ashcroft wanted to focus more on the new county clerks, including Weeks. She is spending her sixth month as Montgomery County Clerk. She was appointed on Jan. 2, replacing Kathy Hancock, who retired after five years.

“Not all of the clerks I meet will be new,” Ashcroft said. “It’s hopeful for me to talk to people who are new and find out their challenges and what they wish we were helping them with and then talk to people who have been doing it for a while. Frequently, they have different concerns and different needs. I don’t want to be just talking to people who have been there for 20 years and the new clerks will be like, ‘We don’t know what to do, we need help and we’re not providing it.’ I want to take credit for all of their good work after the election.”

Ashcroft visited five county clerks in a seven-hour span on June 25. Montgomery County was the final stop of his tour. He also visited Audrain, Monroe, Shelby and Ralls counties.

Ashcroft said there are about 35 new county clerks in the state. Recently, Missouri Governor Mike Parson appointed new clerks in Lafayette and Scotland counties.

“It’s a good number,” Ashcroft said. “We had a lot of turnover because of COVID. A lot of people said, ‘We’re not going through this again.’ But we also had a lot of clerks who have been doing it for years and felt it was time to move on and do something else. Let me make it very clear that the Secretary of State doesn’t run elections. Elections are run by 116 local election authorities across the state. Most of those election authorities are county clerks.”

A county clerk has many duties during an election, such as finding poll workers, training the poll workers, making sure the voting equipment is working properly, writing and printing ballots and tabulating the ballots on election night.

Ashcroft said whenever county clerks have any issues, they could always get help from the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities.

“The clerk’s association is the best association of county officials,” Ashcroft said. “They work together and they mentor. I remember when there was a clerk whose election equipment got flooded. The next thing I knew, there was a clerk who uses the same equipment and said, ‘Hey, we have an extra tabulator.’ It was amazing how the clerks came together to make sure things run smoothly.”