Sue Merriwether has announced her candidacy for County Clerk-Recorder for Carson City. Merriwether, the Chief Deputy, has worked for the Clerk-Recorder’s Office since 1997 and hopes to fill the spot being vacated by retiring Alan Glover.
Merriwether has called Carson City home for nearly 40 years. She moved to Nevada to be closer to her sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Colin Soong. She began working for the State of Nevada, and in 17 years, she work with four different Secretaries of State. During that time, she was instrumental in implementing the State Motor-Voter Program and overseeing the candidate filings of everyone from Nevada State Legislators to U.S. Senators. She worked closely with State Archives, developing a classification and retention system for historical documents.
“Up until that point, the state hadn’t fully complied with records retention of historic documents,” she said. “We were looking at ballots that dated back to the 1800s.”
In 1997, Merriwether was recruited by Glover to the County Clerk’s Office, where she has worked closely with him for 17 years. During that time, they implemented electronic voting, converting all election procedures to comply with state and federal laws. Merriwether’s most recent project will be the launching of electronic poll books, which will expedite the voting process, enable driver’s license check-in, and save paper.
“It’s a shame how much paper is wasted during elections because of everything that has to get printed,” she said. “Electronic poll books will put an end to all of that.”
Merriwether has worked extensively with the Legislature and department heads from multiple state and country offices. She’s well-known for coordinating with other county clerks and keeping the channels of communication open with the Legislature and Secretary of State.
Merriwether looks forward to continuing the work she’s done to make Carson City’s elections secure, accessible, and modernized. She also looks forward to using her experience to manage each department of the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
“I know I’ll have some big shoes to fill with Alan leaving,” she said. “But I’ve worked at this job for almost two decades, and I know what I’m getting into. My experience will make the job easier.”
Glover agreed.
“Sue knows this place better than anyone,” he said. “I know I couldn’t be leaving the office in better hands.”