Shannon Sapp Talks County Clerk Duties, Experience and Running for Another Term

Shannon Sapp Talks County Clerk Duties, Experience and Running for Another Term

LEWIS COUNTY, Mo. — Shannon Sapp, the current Lewis County Clerk, joined Eric with the Lewis County Scoop for an interview focused on the responsibilities of the county clerk’s office, her eight years in office, election procedures, the audit and why she is seeking another term.

“I encourage everybody to read it, but read the full audit report,” -Shannon Sapp

Sapp said she has served as Lewis County Clerk for eight years. Before discussing the office, she shared a little about her family, including her husband, Steven, her children, Cole, Elena and Alex, and a new grandbaby.

The conversation then turned to the responsibilities of the county clerk’s office, a role Sapp said includes far more than many residents may realize.

“We just do so many things,” she said.

Sapp said the office handles several duties connected to elections, taxes, county records and other courthouse operations. She said the clerk’s office provides assessed valuations to taxing entities, assists those entities through the tax levy process, reports levies to the Missouri State Auditor’s Office and provides tax rates to the State Tax Commission.

The clerk’s office also prepares railroad and utility tax bills, issues liquor licenses, assists with notary services and helps certify residents who have completed the process to become notaries.

“I prepare railroad and utility bills and then I send those bills out,” Sapp said.

She also said the office works with other county offices and agencies throughout the year. Some duties happen only once a year, which can make the job difficult to learn and remember without detailed notes and records.

“A lot of the jobs you do once a year,” she said.

Sapp said each county may handle certain duties differently, as long as the final process follows state statute and reaches the required outcome. That can make training and problem-solving more complicated when county clerks compare how they handle the same state forms or procedures.

“Not every county does it the same way,” she said.

Asked about her transition into office eight years ago, Sapp said she had very little formal training when she first became county clerk. She said a previous clerk spent one day showing her how to enter an election into MCVR, the county’s election system, but most of the job had to be learned through experience.

“I had one day with a prior clerk and she showed me how to put an election into MCVR,” Sapp said. “The rest I did on my own or called other clerks or called the auditor’s office or the tax commission or anybody that I was dealing with to see how to do things.”

She said clerks in surrounding counties, including Clark, Shelby, Monroe and Marion counties, helped answer questions during her first years in office.

“There were a lot of clerks that came in new when I did,” she said. “I had a lot of support.”

The interview also addressed accountability in the clerk’s office.

Sapp said the office is held accountable by several state agencies and offices, including the Missouri State Auditor’s Office, the Missouri Ethics Commission and the State Tax Commission.

“I’m held accountable by multiple different agencies and offices,” she said.

The 2024 audit involving the clerk’s office was also discussed.

Sapp said the audit completed in 2024 reviewed the year 2022. She said the issues identified in the audit had already been addressed by the end of 2023, but because the audit was based on the 2022 year, the report had to present the findings from that year.

“The audit I had in 2024 was for the year of 2022,” she said. “We had fixed everything by the end of 2023.”

Sapp encouraged residents to read the full audit report for themselves through the Missouri State Auditor’s Office.

“I encourage anybody to read it, but read the full audit report,” she said.

The conversation also included provisional ballots and election judge training.

Sapp said there are two types of provisional ballots. She said a blue provisional ballot is available in every election for a voter who does not have acceptable identification but is otherwise eligible to vote. A yellow provisional ballot, she said, is used in certain elections involving state or federal candidates for a voter who claims to be registered and eligible but does not appear on the available registers.

“There are only two reasons to have a provisional ballot,” she said.

Sapp said election judges are trained before each election. She said she conducts the training and also has Adkins, the company that works with the county’s election machines, set up equipment so judges can review how the machines operate.

“They do get trained before every election,” Sapp said.

That training includes machine setup, passwords, what to do if a machine jams, printed instructions, changes in election law and any problems that may have come up in a previous election.

Sapp said her experience is one of the main reasons she is seeking another term. She said she entered the office with little training, had to learn much of the job by doing it and still continues to learn as laws and procedures change.

“I have eight years of experience,” she said. “When I started out, I had to figure it out on my own. And that took a lot of work.”

She said the job continues to require questions, notes, research and help from other officials when something changes.

“You’re still learning,” she said. “Things change and there’s something new thrown on your plate every day.”

Sapp said the work of the county clerk’s office is not about one person leading the county, but about offices working together to get county business done.

“Everybody in the courthouse should be helping each other get their jobs done,” she said.

The interview is part of the Lewis County Scoop’s effort to provide voters with direct access to candidates running for public office. The Lewis County Scoop does not endorse any candidate. Podcast interviews are provided for informational purposes only so voters can hear directly from the candidates and make their own decisions.