Larimer County clerk and recorder Tina Harris is running for re-election in 2026.
Harris was appointed clerk and recorder by the county commissioners in 2023 to replace Angela Meyer, who retired from those roles that same year. Harris was then elected to the positions in the 2024 midterm election. She is now pursuing a four-year term and is currently running unopposed.
“We’re going to continue to look at ways to improve the services that we provide,” Harris said in an interview with the Estes Valley Voice about her candidacy. “As soon as somebody says, ‘Well, that’s the way we’ve always done it,’ then we have to change it. How can we improve on this if that’s the way we’ve always done it?”
In Colorado, the county clerk and recorder’s office is a unified office responsible for elections, recording, and vehicle licensing.
Elections oversee the administration of voter registration and the election process. Vehicle licensing is responsible for titling and registering vehicles, as well as special mobile machinery, such as construction vehicles. Additionally, the office issues parking placards to individuals with disabilities.
Recording handles important documents, including marriage and civil union licenses, land title deeds, and passport applications.
Harris said her office is also responsible for administrative matters and the Board of Equalization, which allows residents to appeal to the Larimer County Assessor regarding the valuation of real and personal property.
“I don’t make decisions in a silo,” she said. “Somebody from my team, my management team, my leadership team, or even somebody like the person sitting outside my office, if they see something where we can improve, that’s when we start seeing how this fits into what laws and regulations we have to follow. How can we use this tool to make services better?”
A background heavy in public service
Harris has been serving in the clerk and recorder’s office for 26 years, starting as a vehicle licensing technician in 1999 and eventually becoming the assistant manager of vehicle licensing. In 2022, Harris became the recording manager in the recording department. She made many changes aimed at enhancing customer service.
“I immediately started looking at ways that we can improve that customer service, [and] make it more like a customer-friendly experience,” Harris said.
Harris has administered elections throughout her entire career. During her current term, she has implemented internal tools to track ballots from collection to storage. In 2024, she led the office’s move to a new, larger central vote-counting facility.
Harris added an election data dashboard to the clerk and recorder’s website, which allows residents to easily track active election data in real-time. She also added another database to the website, which allows residents to access historical election data dating back to 2000.
Additionally, Harris eliminated election data request fees, launched a recording activity notification system that notifies residents when a document is recorded matching a specific name, and developed a self-scheduling tool for petitioners to schedule hearings for appeals with the Board of Equalization online.
Cornerstones of Harris’s campaign
According to Harris, part of guaranteeing fair and transparent elections is fostering a culture of nonpartisanship, and she ensures that no political conversations take place in the office.
“Whether it’s at the federal level [or] at the local level, you have to do every single thing without bias and no partisanship,” she said. “Because as soon as you start implementing or bringing that into the situation, the integrity gets compromised.”
As the election administrator, Harris doesn’t endorse candidates, discuss ballot measures, or share her views. “When I’m in these four walls, and that’s what I say, these four walls, meaning I’m on the job, I’m doing everything without bias,” she said.
Harris has planned and participated in community outreach initiatives at fairs, farmers’ markets, and festivals, including events such as “Passport Saturdays” and a “License to Wed Bash.”
“The biggest comment I get is [that] they’re so surprised that I’m there [at the booth],” Harris said. “I think people envision that I’m just going to send a staff member and let them staff the booth, but I’m usually there the entire time because I want to engage with the community. I want to talk to them.”
Harris is preparing her office for DRIVES, a major statewide vehicle licensing system upgrade scheduled for Feb. 16. The system hasn’t been updated since 2018, when it was first implemented.
Harris plans to improve election administration by developing additional tools to support the office’s internal functions. She will also continue to strengthen the Board of Equalization scheduling tool and expand community outreach.
When asked what she would say to Estes Park residents “up the hill” who might feel disconnected from the county, Harris said, “I would love to hear from them more, and I would love an opportunity to go up there and spend more time with them … I would love the opportunity to host events, if there are organizations up there that would like for me to come up and speak, or just hang out.”
Harris has been married to her husband for 36 years, and they live in Fort Collins with their corgi, Charlie. She is a mother to one son and a grandmother to eight grandchildren. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and her horse at her son’s property in Wyoming.