Utah County clerk adjusts title, role of appointed 23-year-old staffer

PROVO — After backlash arose over the Utah County Clerk's Office hiring a 23-year-old conservative influencer to be the chief deputy clerk, County Clerk Aaron Davidson posted a job description with a revised title and role for the appointment.

Davidson appointed Kai Schwemmer, a BYU political science student, to the position of Utah County chief deputy clerk last week. Davidson explained his previous deputy clerk left the county for a city job, so he chose Schwemmer to fill in as a "short term, two- to- three-month appointment" specifically to reach out to young voters.

Because government works so slowly, Davidson said he needed someone to help address the first-time voter issues immediately, so he chose to appoint Schwemmer to the role that was available to get him on board faster.

Davidson said it's important for people to understand what his role is and that "he has no ability to introduce any of his biases; that's just out of his role."

Public backlash

His hiring, however, was immediately met with backlash as people claimed Schwemmer's lack of experience in elections administration combined with a history of controversial public comments made him unfit for a role that typically oversees elections.

The influencer describes himself as "anti-universal suffrage," is in favor of a household voting system and has said "women generally do not have what it takes to endure the pressures of a public office."

Last week, several area residents expressed worries during a public commission meeting about the hiring. Days later, more than 80 former and current female elected officials and business leaders from around the state signed a letter voicing their concern about Schwemmer's role.

The letter — signed by Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Orem Mayor Karen McCandless, ​​Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton​​, Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner and more — claims the appointment of Schwemmer raises "serious concerns among many women in our community."

While citizens are entitled to personal political beliefs, those in leadership positions should have technical expertise, judgment and credibility that inspires public trust, the letter says.

"Until these concerns are adequately addressed, public confidence in the leadership of Utah County's election administration will remain unnecessarily compromised," the letter concludes.

County clerk pushes back

Davidson told KSL that Schwemmer will not have any "governing capability" or "administrative role" in the primary election — that will all be left to the elections director. He said Schwemmer's role "is again nothing other than to try and reach out to these first-time voters. It breaks my heart to see how many we are rejecting. ... This is a problem we have to solve."

Davidson and Schwemmer hosted a town hall last week to educate young voters on how to avoid technical errors that could lead to ballot rejections. But much of the town hall's duration was instead spent by community members questioning Schwemmer's role.

Carren Crossley, co-founder of Brave Utahns Rapid Response Network, or BURRN, got Davidson to commit during the town hall to posting an official job description for Schwemmer's role by Tuesday evening.

She was in contact with Davidson on Tuesday about the adjusted role and said she was "pleasantly surprised." It was a "much more significant change" than she was expecting.

"Davidson hired Mr. Schwemmer to do one specific thing and then kind of shoehorned that into a role that he had available. Unfortunately, I don't think he realized that particular role came with legal responsibilities, and putting those on Mr. Schwemmer was completely inappropriate," Crossley said. "I genuinely appreciate that the county clerk took the time to listen to the community and make those changes."

As of Wednesday, Schwemmer's LinkedIn has been adjusted to show his new title of confidential administrative associate. The job description states a confidential administrative associate "has no direct supervisory responsibility," yet also outlines multiple "essential functions" that stray outside Davidson's previous claims of Schwemmer's job only being young voter outreach.

Utah House District 51 candidate Brett Nielsen, who attended the town hall and has been outspoken against Schwemmer, took issue with the new job description.

"Davidson told the public one thing. He put something completely different in writing," Nielsen said after the job description was posted.

New role

The role's functions include being a "personal assistant and primary representative" for the county clerk, serving as a liaison for the public and press, assisting in long-term department goals, advising legislative and policy changes that affect the county clerk's office, assisting in drafting official policy and recommended legislative changes and coordinating administrative operations of the elections division.

Davidson explained that the job descriptions are written to reflect the responsibilities of a position, not any specific individual.

"Item 2 outlines the work Kai will be performing during his time here: 'Coordinate major office projects and the administrative operations of the elections division to ensure efficiency and achieve service goals, as directed,'" Davidson said.

The new role, which reports to the county clerk, has a pay range that is approximately half of what the typical compensation is for the chief deputy clerk.

Crossley said some people in the community still feel the changes aren't enough and that Schwemmer shouldn't be in the office at all, but she thinks it is a "very good win."

She is looking forward to evaluating the "community trust building plan" Schwemmer shared with BURRN by the Wednesday 5 p.m. deadline the group gave him.

"Good government isn't a partisan issue. Every resident interacts with the clerk's office regardless of party. Our concern is accountability and public trust," Crossley said.

Schwemmer is anticipated to work with the county just for the summer, but the job description states no specific end date. Crossley said Davidson confirmed to her there will be a thorough performance review for Schwemmer on Sept. 2. Davidson previously said he planned to replace Schwemmer with someone "in the elections arena" in the fall if he gets reelected.

Schwemmer did not respond to requests for comment on his new role.

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