Delegates at Tuesday night’s Summit County Democratic Organizing Convention have nominated Peoa resident Eve Furse to fill the position of County Clerk, which was vacated by Kent Jones.
Furse, a former magistrate court judge, won the delegate vote over Kellie Robinson, the Chief Deputy in the Clerk’s office.
Her name will be sent on to the County Council for confirmation.
Jones retired at the end of April. Furse will serve the remainder of his term, through the end of 2022.
Furse committed to the delegates that she will run for a full term next year.
During the convention, held on Zoom, the two candidates addressed the delegates and briefly answered questions.
Furse said one major reason she applied for the office was the current nation-wide controversy about the voting process.
“Elections are the very foundation of our democracy. With voter confidence threatened for the first time in our lifetime, voting rights under attack and voter suppression efforts out in the open, our next clerk must work vigorously to defend our rights, lead other county clerks by example, and work with legislators to shape our election laws. Working as an advocate gives me these skills. I need to ensure that all voters can exercise their legal rights free from suppression, that every municipality has convenient access to drop boxes, that there are numerous polling places with well-trained staff to serve voters with disabilities or who need language accommodation, and to enable our cities to use rank-choice voting.”
She said she hasn’t worked on conducting an election, but she has experience doing many different jobs, and doing them quickly. Furse added she will have the help of an excellent staff at the clerk’s office.
“This won’t be my first time in public service. I originally moved to Utah to clerk for Justice Christine Durham. I spent six years as Senior City Attorney to Salt Lake City, and most recently served as federal magistrate judge.”
She said the prominent Democrats supporting her include former Utah Congressman Ben McAdams, House Rep. Brian King, former Summit County Council Member Sally Elliott, County Attorney Margaret Olson and legislative candidate Meaghan Miller.
Furse said she will work with party colleagues next year to out-organize Republicans, but the clerk’s office will remain unbiased.
She said one goal will be to reach out and encourage legislators to have confidence in Utah’s current voting process.
“And so that, when issues might come in front of them, and somebody’s encouraging them to adopt legislation put forward in another state, they know, “Nope, we don’t need that here, we’ve got a good process. So developing those relationships before the session, so that when something comes up, they’re ready and they have answers, and also encouraging our voters to be contacting their legislators about their pleasure with the voting system, so that they know that their constituents are happy with it, is very important this year given the national level of discourse.”
County Clerk nominee Eve Furse. On another topic, she said that Utah law allows ranked-choice voting for cities, and she will help any municipality that wants to adopt it.
