Court Clerk: What you need to know

Like many aspects across our lives, COVID-19 has impacted Washita County Court Clerk Lynda Vermillion and her offce. “We were shut down for about a month,” she said. “By that, I mean the courthouse was closed. Our offce was still operating.”

For that month, Vermillion led the office every day while rotating her clerks every couple of days. “I rotated them out two at a time so we would have enough to do work when we got it,” she said. “(The work) was being faxed in, emailed in, mailed in, so that’s how we were getting our paperwork to do.”

The work never stopped, she said. “We were still operating,” she said. “We weren’t letting people in. we were having to do everything over fax, email. It was a whole different situation, and it still is.”

Vermillion, the current court clerk, is running as a Republican in the Nov. 3 General Election for a chance at another term. She’s been the court clerk since county commissioners appointed her to the position after the previous court clerk retired about 2 and ½ years ago.

Vermillion is aware that the pandemic is far from over. “We’re trying to get back to normal, but still some things are not. Especially now that COVID numbers have risen a little bit around here, people are starting to fax in more again, or email,” she said. “We do a lot of email filings.”

Like many aspects of American life now days, Vermillion is navigating the COVID waters as best as she can. She started in the court clerk’s offce in 2005, working her way up to chief deputy before her appointment to Court Clerk.

“The county commissioners, I believe, thought I could handle the job. That’s why I was appointed.

Vermillion wasn’t born in Cordell, but she was raised here.

She graduated Cordell High School in 1978. Through her job, she has earned a certificate as a deputy clerk and was just short a few hours for her court clerk certification, she said, before the pandemic

She’s been married to Dennis for 42 years, and they have two sons, Keith and Aaron, grandchildren and a small family farm. She wants people to know running for public offce is not easy.

“If someone has never walked in these shoes as trying to run, it’ really an eye-opener. It’s a lot of work that people don’t realize,” she said. “I will be glad when it’s over.”

The race has been diffcult because she’s running against Democrat Kim Batt, one of the clerks from her offce.

“That has been challenging, to say the least. I feel good about it. I try not to let it stress me out. I lean into my faith a little more,” she said.

Vermillion recently sat down with the Beacon to talk about her candidacy and answer a few questions. The answers are in Vermillion’s own words.

What is the essential role of Court Clerk?

Our essential duty is to keep the records of the district court. By records, I mean cases. We are keepers of the record. We have to make sure we keep them correctly, that we take care of them. We take care of a lot of paperwork. That’s what our offce and the statutes say, we’re the keeper of the records.

Will there be bad blood between you and your opponent after the election?

I don’t cause any bad blood, so I would say no.

Your opponent told the Beacon you said she would no longer have a job if you won the election? Is this true?

I think she’s told everyone that. But that’s OK, because it was really diffcult because she came to me one day and told me she was going to (run against me), for certain reasons. But you, time changes after a while. I never thought she was going to (run against me), they never asked me If I was going to run. She just came out with it that day.

But did you in fact say she would no longer have a job if you won the election?

I’m going to plead the fifth on that one. I’m already being accused of things I’ve not said in this town.

What’s the No. 1 issue facing the offce.

There’s several. I feel like we are short staffed. We used to have six people in the offce. The prior clerk, we had to have a layoff, so one of the clerks was laid off. I took her position when she left, and the commissioners would not hire to fill my space. So that’s why we are down to four. Then, I would say COVID. I just had a girl that was diagnosed, and she was out for a couple of weeks. The first week, they were all out because they had been exposed to her. So it was down to me and my part-time helper. So I was trying to do all that by myself. I did the best I could. It’s just kind of a different ball game. You just got to work through the situation as it comes and figure out how it works. You never know who’s going to walk in through the door. You never are going to know that person’s situation until you talk to them and find out what they need

If you are re-elected, what direction will you take the offce in the next four years?

Right now, I am working on scanning in as many old records that we can. And trying to free up space and get us digitized because we are losing storage space. Our training has come to a stop. But I feel like the girls are missing out on some stuff that they need training for. Things are ever evolving with the legislature because they are the ones that direct what we do. We go by the statutes. Just the ever-changing evolution of keeping up software updates, trying to stay current, facing the daily challenges. No two days are ever the same.

What else should voters know about you or your candidacy?

I am easy to talk to. I am transparent. People can talk to me. Basically, please keep Lynda Vermillion as Court Clerk. I am experienced and qualified. I’ve had very good comments and rapport from people I’ve been out campaigning to. Everyone has been very positive, very forthcoming.