Current Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark took office in 2021 and hit the ground running to modernize our election process, improve voter experience and make the County Clerk’s office more user friendly for everyone.

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After just two years under her leadership, the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office has a new national profile for election best practices — twice honored by the federal Election Assistance Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission it is to improve the administration of elections and help people participate in the voting process. Also under Katharine’s leadership, the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office has won 3 National Association of Counties awards. This organization advocates for county priorities and works to optimize county and taxpayer resources. 

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As Clerk, Katharine represents Santa Fe in election policy at the state and national levels. She serves as the Santa Fe County’s representative to the New Mexico Association of Counties and to the National Association of Counties Finance, Pensions & Intergovernmental Affairs Policy Steering Committee and Elections subcommittee. She also is a founding committee member of the Partnership of Large Election Jurisdictions, an organization of over 100 large counties representing the unique challenges of larger jurisdictions focused on modernization and optimization. 

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To modernize elections training in New Mexico, Katharine is spearheading the committee to overhaul the official NM training for Clerks - the NM Edge Clerk Certificate. The new focus is modern election practice and project management. She is the first person to graduate with a Clerk certificate in Santa Fe County and over half of her elections’ staff has completed two certificates with the NM Edge program. 

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Prior to taking office, Katharine was a small business owner with more than 10 years of high-level executive management practice, including building effective teams. Her experience in the private sector, non-profit, legislative and academic arenas provides the expertise needed to effectively handle the varied duties of the County Clerk’s office. Her experience as an technologist and analytics manager provides the mandatory technical proficiency necessary to manage today’s 21st Century County Clerk’s office.

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Katharine holds a dual emphasis MBA in Strategic Management & Public Policy and Human Resources from the University of New Mexico and a Dual BA in Cognitive Neurosciences & Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley.

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She is currently serving on the board of the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance focused on providing resources and community for LGTBQ community members. She is also a member of the 2024 New Mexico Leadership Local Government class and a 2020 alumna of Leadership Santa Fe and a 2017 alumna of EMERGE NM, an organization dedicated to changing the face of power, politics and leadership to ensure greater diversity.

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“I come to public service rooted in my ancestors – generations of military service men and women, as well as generations of union members and organizers. I owe much of who I am to my mother. She modeled advocacy for me my entire life and taught me to be the first to stand up when someone needed help.”