La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Parker’s office is decorated with family photos, scenic images from across Colorado and posters detailing the importance and history of voting. On her desk sits her baby-blue water bottle adorned with stickers that read, “Democracy Hustles Harder” and “There’s a story behind every vote cast.”
When Parker, who grew up in Durango, was 19, she dropped out of college. She was a single mother with a 6-month-old daughter and needed a job with good benefits. A job came open in the recording department of the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office in Bend, Oregon, where she lived at the time, and Parker was hired.
Even though Parker was in the recording department, she was often called in to work elections during election season. She was hooked.
“I found a huge passion. I absolutely loved it. I just said, ‘Wow, this is where I want to be,’” Parker said.
After a year in the recorder’s office, Parker was hired in the elections office.
“I loved the challenge of elections, yet also serving the community and giving people that right to vote,” Parker said.
Parker eventually worked her way up to the chief deputy position in Deschutes County before moving back home to Durango. Upon returning to Durango, she worked in the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder’s Office until her election in 2010.
“Her life is the elections. She runs the rest of the clerk’s office beautifully, but her heart is in elections,” said Trish Pegram, a board member for the League of Women Voters who isn’t working as an election judge for the first time in 16 years because of health concerns.
Parker says she wants to ensure every eligible voter has the ability to exercise his or her voting rights. And one of the best ways to do that, she says, is mail-in voting.
Parker’s proudest achievement while in office, she said, is helping to construct and pass House Bill 1303. The 2013 bill instituted mail-in elections, allowed for same-day registration and modernized Colorado’s elections to ensure secure elections. Parker said she was one of two Republican clerks running for re-election who supported the bill and received a significant amount of backlash, even being labeled a “rogue Republican.”
The criticism fell on deaf ears. Parker knew she had done her job – making voting more accessible to people who have a right to vote. Speaking with a gleam in her eye while holding one of the pens former Gov. John Hickenlooper used to sign the bill, Parker said, “I want every eligible elector in the United States to vote. ... Our jobs are to ensure people have access to a ballot, who are eligible.”
When Parker was elected in 2010, there were 28,426 active voters in La Plata County. Since then, the county’s population has grown by an estimated 5,000 residents. But during the past 10 years, the number of active voters has grown to 41,490, a difference of 13,064 voters.
This summer, Parker announced she was dropping her Republican Party affiliation to become registered as “unaffiliated.” She said her job has no room for partisan politics.
“County clerks, we don’t care about your party and we don’t care about our own party. We care about making sure people can vote,” Parker said. “I’m here to serve everyone.”
During the 2018 election cycle, Parker watched as she saw a number of “highly-qualified” civil servants be replaced solely because of their party affiliation. When she next runs in 2022, Parker said she wants voters to know her for her qualifications rather than her party affiliation.
The change in party affiliation hasn’t changed the way she does her job.
“She’s always been nonpartisan,” Pegram said.
Carol Cure, chairwoman of the La Plata County Democrats, said she has never seen politics play a part in Parker’s role as clerk and recorder.
“She really wants every single vote to be counted and every person out there to vote,” Cure said. “... I just think she’s a top-notch clerk, and we’re lucky to have her.”
Parker was one of the first people La Plata County commissioner candidate Jack Turner met with before he decided to run. He described Parker as being helpful in explaining the election process.
“In my case, no question I ask is too stupid,” Turner said.
Parker’s integrity and competence give Turner “absolute” faith in a secure election.
“I can assure the public, I don’t know how there could possibly be a safer way to vote than the way we do it and the way she handles it here locally,” he said.
Turner, who’s interacted with voters across the county while campaigning, said, “I would bet about $1,000 every comment you get about her is positive. ... If you find one negative comment about her, you let me know because I just have never heard one.”
Parker estimated she is working 75 to 80 hours a week to keep up with the election season.
She checks in and observes the election judges several times a day to ensure the collection, verification, organization and counting of ballots are being done accurately and precisely. This year, Parker had to find a number of new election judges because, in the past, the average age of election judges was 73, and many had to stay home this year because of COVID-19 health concerns. She also had to find equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans to replace vacant judges because each task an election judge completes is done in pairs – one Republican and one Democrat.
Parker is the current president of the Colorado County Clerks Association and responds to daily requests for help from clerks around the state. She is one of the more veteran clerks in the state, especially after a wave of newcomers were elected in 2018, and has made herself available to clerks with questions.
Near the onset of COVID-19, Parker was holding daily Zoom meetings with clerks around the state. Meetings are now scheduled every other week, but she still has a number of clerks emailing and calling her for advice.
Carly Koppes, the Weld County clerk and recorder who will assume presidency of the association when Parker’s term is up in January, said clerks are under significant pressure this year, and Parker has been “the calm in the storm.”
The increased chatter about election security concerns Parker and is something she responds to daily. Parker said she frequently hears from community members who are skeptical of the integrity of elections.
Citing that Colorado has been a mail-in ballot state since 2013 and is a model for successful elections, Parker said, “Colorado should be excluded from what’s going on in the national level.” However, for Parker, it’s important to build trust in the election process, so she often invites anyone with questions to take a tour of her offices.
Marsh Bull of Durango is part of a men’s group, self-titled the Geezer Breakfast Club, which gathers for breakfast once a week to stay informed about issues in the community. About half the members of his group were skeptical of election security and requested a tour last week.
Bull’s group left the tour impressed.
“The takeaways are that we are very comfortable, especially in Colorado,” Bull said. “We had no idea about the checks and double-checks and signature verification. We learned it’s a very detailed, intense process. She (Parker) is kind of like a rock star in the mail-in ballot area.”
Parker expects voter turnout will be over 80% this year in La Plata County, which would be the highest turnout in more than 20 years.
“I love my job, I love what I do for this community,” Parker said.
smarvin@durangoherald.com
