dan krueger read and you used to work under him right as the elections coordinator yeah that's correct yeah and so he's served there in the this position county clerk for since one nine hundred seventy eight that's right which is a long ten year i bet he's learned a few things in that time and i bet the jab has changed a lot in all that time and so how does that feel trying to fill both kind of shoes yeah exactly i think it's a it's a tough challenge dan has been a tremendous mentor and boss over the five and a half years i services election director and i think those are some very challenging shoes to fill he was in on the ground floor of a lot of  different technology advances that our offices had he's been active legislatively over the years and i certainly hope to continue in those footsteps and all of those areas and dan was around my age as well when he was happens hang in there so can you give us kind of a rundown of what the county clerk is really responsible for sure well the county clerk is the keeper of the county seal with the seal of the circuit court and so we are the the clerk to of the circuit court judges so all filings for circuit court come through our office which is a major part of our of our job as the county clerk we also handle all of the vital records of the county so birth records death records marriage records d b a or business licensing is all handled through the clerk's office we do all of that through our vital records division we serve as the clerk to the board of canvas use me the board county board of commissioners as well so our job there is to facilitate and keep all records of the county board of commissioners and then as register of deeds we handle all recording of all official land and title documents in the county as well and then of course the election roll the county clerk is the chief election official in the county so responsible for the administration of the election process and working very closely with our local clerks as election officials in that capacity so it's a pretty large all encompassing yet it kind of the center of integrity for all of those systems right yeah important to make sure we are doing things accurately keeping good records  and we're we're efficient that's that's an important part of it yeah so what's what was your background before you came in as the election coordinator well before i took the job a little over five and a half years ago with dan i was kind of in the political field i worked on the political background began with secretary of state terry lane land and i served as a volunteer on her campaign and then interned on her staff and then kind of came aboard on her official staff as well so i worked i had a good experience there with the secretary of state's office and with the executive staff with terry lynn land and then in two thousand and seven i left her staff and managed a congressional campaign so i worked with congressman tim walberg in manage his campaign in two thousand and seven so you kind of had the macro view the whole thing hate and then went into a particular person running for office which gave you a gave kind of background feel for it probably right yeah i've always been pretty politically active even as a young kid my parents thought i was a little odd i enjoyed the whole politics and election thing yeah i gave them speeches every once in a while right but it was a hard about world peace yes probably so probably yeah but i was able to kind of see from from the secretary of state level the administrative side of elections which obviously is something that we do at the county level in a much more in depth way and also got some of that political background which i love so yes it's a great experience good to have an understanding of how it off together yeah when you come in there for running all of that right so what made you interested in this position was it all of what we've spoken about ok yeah i kind of i mean i think i've always been passionate about politics and about public service and you know working on the administrative side of elections you're certainly involved with political figures and things like that but you're serving people you know our customers are the you know hundred ninety thousand registered voters that we have an out of the county and it gave us a great opportunity to you know get to know all the local clerks at that level and be able to work with them and serve the public in that way so you know dan and i had had some conversations about the future and i think the role of county clerk is a really critical role when it comes to customer service in general we deal with the public face to face every day whether you know people come to us whether they're buying a home having a baby getting married some pretty major life decisions they have milestones in life right and we see them at those milestones and it's important and on the other side of things you know when they're maybe going through a divorce or death in the family or difficult situation so i think my goal as as clerk and really one of the passions that i have about this job is to be able to show a face of government to those  people that is friendly that is open and that is connecting with them and getting them the services that they need yeah you know a lot of times we think well we don't hear anything about people running this kind of stuff unless there's like a dangling chad problem or something and then ever they have microphones in their faces and everything found horrible and so it's great you know it's move rerunning systems often don't get publicity but it is it is so important for the citizens yeah now are you planning on running for office then in two thousand and sixteen because this was an appointed position right dan left part way through his elected tenure right that is correct and i'm definitely planning on seeking election in tw know i think this is a job that i'm passionate about we have a great staff a great team of people we have thirty six staff altogether between the courts vital records elections registered deeds divisions so i'm i'm certainly on board with the campaign in two thousand and sixteen and excited about all the possibilities and opportunities that's going to bring so you must be a person who enjoys detail as well as people and i guess that's a good way to describe it yeah yeah and that's an unusual combination i don't know how people can be you know a total people people and that so much into things and and accuracy in details or vice versa so that's great that both of those things excite you and that that's exactly what the what the job entails yeah definitely i mean this job is a very detail oriented role yeah but it also is a job that interfaces with a lot of people every day so i think it's it's a good combination of passions to have the right well so you are kind of new and the jab but what are you thinking as some of your goals here as you began your well i think the number one priority for me as we're kind of gearing up for an election season right now we're just you know three three weeks away or so from the august election that is a priority for me to make sure that our election process is running smoothly and efficiently and you know during that transitional phase it's kind of hard sometimes you have a change in leadership leadership and you know things are moving and shaking around so i guess number one priority is making sure that we have a good smooth election in august in the november we're working on some great things as well and in terms of technology one of the interesting pieces of technology that we're working on right now is the jury system which basically allows jurors to fill out a questionnaire on line so i don't know if you've ever gotten one of those  a by mail right and you have to fill out the little bubbles and you have to mail it in will we mail out a notice that basically says you can fill this out or you can go online which kind of expedites the whole process makes it a little streamlined on our end quicker for the jurors quicker for the court so we're ruling that out now yeah less expensive as well yeah it's a victory exactly and also along with that if you are selected as if you're you'll be able to go online and view whether or not you're going that is great yeah and so what kind of changes in technology will that would be the changes in technology right for p s and that's something that is really kind of on our radar for the next several months certainly by the beginning of next year we hope that will be all in place there are some other technological things we want to try to bring as much as we can line for folks there's a lot that you have to do in our office in terms of showing specific documents and getting documents sealed and signed but there's also a lot we can do online we've already put online applications out there for birth records for marriage records so you can fill out all the necessary information at home on your computer and then yeah that is helpful and i understand that there is a satellite office that people may not realize that they live in howland city there's a closer location absolutely what would that be yeah the county seat as you know is a grand haven and we do have an office there we also have an office on james street in holland and that's really customer service friendly office folks can go into our satellite offices one to two five one james street the county building there ok right here the ma right near the mall that's right yeah and basically you can get anything you need from us at that office and actually the holland office is one of our highest grossing offices in terms of birth records marriage licenses in passports we also offer passport application in that office we're also working now to incorporate the register of deeds division in that office so if you're looking to pick up a document maybe you need a copy of your mortgage deed or something like that you can do that from the holland office as well so definitely a handy place for yeah a lot of people one stop shopping yeah that's right near right that's right that's great so if people hear you as as running the whole election process it maybe we need a little convincing about why we should vote what do you think about that yeah i mean obviously my passion is voting in elections and really more than politics even the process of how we go about choosing our government think that's so important you know we have an opportunity as citizens to voice that and especially in the elections like the august primary election it's amazing how many folks don't turn out to vote in these smaller elections not a county actually has a great voter turnout compared to the rest of the state we're about ten percent above the statewide average so that's great i love throwing that fact out there when we're at state conference you know we do have lower turnouts in these smaller elections and that's really where a lot of things are decided right people don't realize that milledge will pose a little right and local school boards and and even the primary elections very important so  definitely encourage voter participation every chance we can get so where can somebody register to vote so you can register actually the number of different places you can go online at our web site is am i out of wood dot org slash elections i have a lot of different information for voters on that site along with a voter registration form now this form you can download and print out and mail in so you can mail that into our office but you can also go and register in person at any local clerk's office or the city clerk's office here on river street in holland or any other local city or township clerk's office as well and our office additionally to that you can register the secretary of state's office so if you're in the office renewing your driver's license moving or getting your tabs you can definitely register to vote there as well how soon can you register you can register thirty days prior to the election in which you wish to vote so actually we've just now passed the registration deadline for the august election it was july seventh registration for the november election is october fifth ok so and what age do you have to be have to be eighteen years of age or older to register all right so where can you check to find the locations to register and see if you are registered yeah yeah the website that i mentioned earlier  elections we've got a lot of information there as well is it addition to the voter registration information you can actually click on a precinct map to see where each precinct is in the county you can find your precinct we also have f downloads available of your actual ballot so you can check out your ballot ahead of time and links to the maps of each of your polling locations as well as a lot of information there for voters yeah yeah so the heart of registration though is that you have to impersonate at some point sign something now it's all right to an office you can do that's rally loading of applications and all of that kind of thing but at some point it still has to be a face to face digital yeah who proves who you are right exactly you know michigan has a couple of a couple of rules and regulations on that and as you mentioned you can register by mail you just have to appear in person either to vote or impure appear in person at your clerk's office at some point before the election so if you were to apply for an absentee ballot for instance you have to at least appear in person one time before getting that ballot mailed to you so if you register to vote in person that takes care of that requirement or you could come in and apply for your absentee ballot after you've registered at the court's offices well yeah well great i'd so appreciate all this information and you know it's kind of the thing that everybody says they know about or you don't want to admit they don't know you know so it's great to have a good excuse to kind of get a review of all of that and we're so glad to be able to meet you justin and announce you to the public and they'll now though you'll have a familiar face and i hope you can serve the law and well in your position and we're very grateful for your passion for what's so important to democracy in our area pursued in the definitely thanks for having me well hey thank you and thank you everyone for tuning in today to hear about this new justin roebuck in his position as our new a county clerk and we're glad that you could learn more about it along with us we hope that you'll enjoy these presentations and if there are any that you would like to see that we have done before you can go to a web site video dot com slash city of holland and look at all the different things that we have looked in into over the last few years and learn about how and in our area thank you so much 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