El Paso Matters sent questionnaires to every candidate in a contested primary race to help you decide who you want to represent you. Candidates were asked to limit their responses to 100 words. Responses have been lightly edited for grammar and to fit the word count.

County Clerk: Democratic Primary

The main duties of the county clerk are to serve as clerk of the county court and the county commissioners court, act as recorder of deeds and other instruments, issue marriage licenses and take depositions.

Who’s running for this seat?

Delia Briones

Delia Briones (incumbent), 66, is the El Paso County Clerk.

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Ruben Sandoval

Ruben Sandoval, 37, is a guardianship specialist for El Paso County Probate Court No. 1.

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Briones

I truly care about El Paso and the constituents and want to make a positive impact within our community.  I take my role as County Clerk very seriously and I put all my energy into the office. And wish to continue with the tremendous strides my office has made.

Sandoval

I started my career here at the County at the County Clerk’s office, so I am well aware of issues that need to be addressed. My key focus for this endeavor is to increase access and availability to the community of El Paso.

Briones

I have the extensive knowledge and years of experience that it takes to run an office of this size and caliber, to include a budget of over five million dollars. It takes years of experience to deal with over 100 employees in a positive manner to include kindness, respect and fairness, to build a team and work family.

Sandoval

The time for change is here and is wanted, change is needed and I am that change. I am not running based on a name, I am running for us for the County of El Paso. With my experience and knowledge, there is no individual better suited for the future of the El Paso County Clerk.

Briones

We are always looking for ways to improve customer service, especially with the pandemic. We’ve created a way for constituents to make appointments so they do not have to wait in line, we are paperless and you can research property records online. You can also request your birth and death records via Vitalchek.

Sandoval

There’s 3 factors that I’ve considered to improve customer service at the County Clerk’s office: 1. A happy staff member is a productive staff member for the community. We will thrive on change, operate on trust, and incorporate the diverse ideologies of every staff member into everyday production. 2. Increasing efficiency providing the proper tools to every staff member; including targeted training, proper management training and understanding of their division. 3.  Insuring office evolution, cohesion, and comprehension of current and/or future technological adaptions for the community of El Paso.

Briones

Our current records are already digitized from 1874 through 1963 and preserved to standards set by the U.S. Library of Congress. Our current records are digitized, hence we are paperless. I can say that I am the first El Paso County Clerk to achieve this. This is a benefit to the constituents because the lines are shorter in the office when you want service. As far as technological upgrades, we’ve set up our website where constituents are able to set their own appointments. The software for us to go paperless was implemented before the pandemic hit, this was a priority three years ago. Therefore, our office did not skip a beat when the pandemic hit and constituents were still being served.

Sandoval

The priority of digitization of archived and future records for the entire County of El Paso, while reducing the impact of paper waste. I would like to include and explore all available technological upgrades that will increase the day to day operations for all divisions.

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