Why do we even elect court clerks??
Elect people who make decisions. People who just do jobs should not get voted.
All the kerfuffle over Kim Davis somewhat obscures the more pressing question both for her and for other places that elect clerks: Why do we even elect clerks in the first place?
I mean, of course you should vote on people who make political decisions: council-people, mayors, etc. You elect these people since they are supposed to make decisions and they should be reflective of their larger community's wishes and should ultimately be responsible to those people who elected them.
But people like clerks do not make decisions, they just follow the laws or the rules of their position. They are not and should not be political. The extent of their decisions should end at "Does this person have all the required documentation and paperwork for whatever license they are seeking?"
The only reason we need a person and not a computer is for the edge cases where documents are incomplete or maybe some paperwork is worn and hard to read.
If the Rowan County clerk's position was appointed (preferentially based solely on seniority and qualifications) and not elected this whole mess would not be a problem. Someone refusing to do their job would be summarily fired and that would be the end of it.
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