WENDY

County Clerks routinely work with other elected officials and various county departments to perform tasks on behalf of our constituents. The office is often an integral part of county government in preserving its history. Some functions include attending meetings of the County Board to record and document actions, issuing marriage licenses, and election administration and reporting. The outbreak of COVID-19 in the year 2020 and beyond brought challenges that could not be described as routine and regular.

We learned the importance of counties having updated technology, whether the devices themselves or internet connectivity which allowed us to communicate with each other and the rest of the world. Early on, as some employees within county government pivoted to a ‘working from home’ scenario you saw a gap in the provision of services at many levels. Individuals had to determine setting up space to serve as an office, obtaining information typically housed in file cabinets and adjusting to a new way of doing business. We implemented procedures for scheduling appointments, acquired software to conduct virtual meetings, learned new skills in rapid fashion and administered elections under unprecedented circumstances.

Conducting the April 2020 Spring Election while Wisconsin was coming to a standstill due to the pandemic presented its own unique challenges. County Clerks worked with their partners – municipal clerks, Elections Commission staff and county emergency management centers – to acquire and deliver basic sanitation supplies needed to ensure that voters could cast their ballot in a safe manner. Supply chain issues meant that County Clerks were the center point for identifying creative ways to make certain the elections could go on as scheduled. We purchased blank stock for printing thousands of absentee envelopes, obtained numerous ballot-marking pens and distributed hand sanitizer by the gallons. Plexiglass was in great demand and hard to come by as it was used to construct shields for placement at polling locations and offices to provide another layer of protection. This effort led to many late nights, endless emails and rounds of phone and virtual meetings for people assigned to the many tasks.

When municipalities faced a shortage of poll workers available to work because of the health concerns, the Wisconsin Elections Commission staff coordinated with the National Guard to provide local assistance to fill those positions. Once again, Clerks shifted to coordinating staffing to ensure coverage for places where there were questions regarding whether polling locations would be open on Election Day due to election inspector concerns about COVID-19. With planning already underway, the direction was not certain at times. During these preparations, multiple legal challenges were filed related to the various Executive Orders as well as whether the election should proceed as scheduled. Each time another lawsuit became public, we waited for a court’s ruling on the specific matter and evaluated what impact those decisions would have on our plans. Collectively, we persevered through our responsibilities to hold that election and the ones that followed.

Since that time, County Clerks have continued to function under altered conditions from those typical in years past. As we resume our operations and continue forward, we must be mindful of the impacts we leave behind with our decisions and actions. As Wisconsinites, we are creative and resilient, so we will continue to search for innovative ways to meet the needs of our constituents while carrying out the duties of our office. While we may never recover some of what was lost during this period, we should remember the most valuable lessons gained along the way – family is precious, friends are a gift, and we all need human connection.

Wendy M. Christensen, Racine County Clerk
President, Wisconsin County Clerks Association