Without county clerks, many of government's underlying responsibilities would go undone.
The main duties of the county clerk are:
- Administering all county and state elections, including early voting and primaries, unless the commissioners court has transferred the function to the tax assessor-collector or an office of county election administrator;
- Serving as clerk of the county court and the commissioners court and keep records of the proceedings;
- Acting as recorder of deeds and other instruments;
- Filing and recording birth and death certificates;
- Recording assumed names, wills and probate;
- Issuing marriage licenses; and
- Accounting for all funds paid to the office by way of fines and fees, and the amount owed to county court jurors for service.
In Texas counties with a population of less than 8,000, unless there has been a special election, the county clerk also serves as the district clerk, assuming all constitutional and statutory duties of the district clerk, along with those of county clerk.
The County Clerks Office has Birth, Death, Marriage, Probate, Civil Court Land Records from 1900.
Clerk of the Court
The office of clerk of the county court, or county clerk's office, has been in existence since 1836, when it superseded the office of escribano qv of Spanish and Mexican Texas.qv Under the Constitution of 1876qv, the county clerk was to be elected biennially; in 1954, however, a constitutional amendment changed the term of office to four years. The main duties of the county clerk are to serve as clerk of the county court and the county commissioners' court (qv), act as recorder of deeds and other instruments, issue marriage licenses, and take depositions. The clerk is also responsible for conducting countywide special and general elections and for handling absentee voting. In counties of less than 8,000 population, the office of county clerk is combined with that of clerk of the district court.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Guide to Texas Laws for County Officials (Austin: Texas Department of Community Affairs, 1988). Dick Smith, The Development of Local Government in Texas (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1938).