La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Parker announced Wednesday she is changing her party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated.

The shift doesn’t represent a change in political ideology, she said; rather, it’s because the position of clerk and recorder – among others – should be nonpartisan.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” Parker said.

Parker said she wants to work with state legislators on changing the law so candidates for certain positions, such as coroner, surveyor, assessor, treasurer and “possibly sheriff,” are no longer running by party affiliation.

“We are nonpartisan. We are administrators of the law,” Parker said. “How can I be a Republican and try to fight that battle?”

Parker, who was first elected in 2010, faces re-election in 2022. She has worked in the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder’s Office for about 15 years, and before that, for 10 years in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office of Deschutes County, Oregon.

The clerk and recorder is responsible for running county elections. Her office also provides motor-vehicle registration, marriage licenses and document recording.

By dropping her party affiliation, Parker joins a growing list of candidates – and voters – abandoning partisan politics in favor of more neutrality. Two candidates running for La Plata County commissioner – Jack Turner and Charly Minkler – are running as unaffiliated candidates against Democratic candidates Marsha Porter-Norton and Matt Salka, respectively.

As an unaffiliated candidate, Parker would have to run by petition, or collect enough signatures, to appear on the ballot if she decides to seek re-election.

But Parker said she is willing to pursue that route. She said she has built trust in the community and is confident voters will evaluate her based on her performance and not party affiliation.

“I serve everybody the same,” she said. “I think it’s extremely important that I don’t have just a label behind my name.”

shane@durangoherald.com