Clerks: The Heart of Local Governance
ClerkStart is a storytelling and workforce initiative from Build Alaska’s Future Education Fund that puts a face on one of the most essential, least visible jobs in the state: the local government clerk.
In communities across Alaska, clerks run elections, safeguard public records, support councils and assemblies, and keep local government running. When a clerk position sits empty, the community is left without an election administrator, without a records keeper, without the person who makes sure government still works.
Alaska is facing a wave of clerk vacancies at the same time as rural community populations are shrinking. ClerkStart’s mission is to change that: to make this work visible, to preserve the knowledge clerks carry, and to bring the next generation of civic leaders into the field.
ClerkStart Highlights
Watch our three-part video series on the people who keep Alaska’s local governments running. These are the unsung heroes who make elections happen and hold their communities together, often with little recognition and even less support.
ClerkStart Highlights
A Statewide Video Spotlight
Filmed during Local Government Week in December 2025, alongside the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks Conference and the launch of the Alaska Municipal League’s 75th Anniversary, our statewide spotlight video brings together local government clerks from across the state to discuss their roles in their own words.
They talk about what the job actually requires: the skills, the pressure, and the trust their communities place in them. And they talk about what is at stake when their roles go unfilled: elections, records management, meetings, and the everyday tasks of local governance.
Local government clerks are the backbone of their communities. They keep things running through leadership transitions, safeguard democracy at the most local level, and are often the first person a resident turns to when they need help. Without a strong pipeline of trained clerks, elections, public records, and the daily work of local government are all at risk.
Educational Outreach
The Civic Infrastructure Assessment
Good governance depends on more than any one clerk. It depends on a whole, functioning system. That system is responsible for whether elections happen on schedule, whether ballots reach voters and get counted, and whether mail deliveries run to and from rural communities.
Build Alaska’s Future Education Fund undertook a statewide Civic Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment in order to take a closer look at those systems: local government clerk capacity, election turnout, postal and absentee ballot infrastructure, and governance structure across Alaska’s communities.
The Assessment reinforces the urgency of ClerkStart: the clerk workforce is a critical component of a vulnerable civic infrastructure system essential to local governance.
- Currently, there are 24 confirmed local government clerk vacancies statewide, based on the most recent state records.
- 29 cities have not reported holding a local election in two years or more.
- 60 communities have no USPS service at all, and only 63 active Postmaster Relief sites remain statewide to help fill that gap.
- 55.8% of Alaska’s eligible voters participated in the 2024 general election. This is significantly lower than the national rate of 64%, signifying a less engaged or politically mobilized population.
- Nearly 40% of rejected absentee ballots during the 2024 general election were due to “improper or insufficient witnessing” – a problem known to disproportionately affect rural voters, pointing to major gaps in the infrastructure that exists for processing votes in rural precincts.
- 229 federally recognized tribes call Alaska home, each with its own relationship to these systems, which is part of why “local government clerk” has to mean more than city hall.
Every one of these numbers describes the vulnerability of the civic infrastructure communities depend on – a vacant clerk seat, a discontinued mail route, and a rejected ballot are all symptoms of cracks in the system.
This assessment gives funders, state agencies, and community partners a clear, evidence-based picture of where the vulnerabilities are and where support is most needed, so resources can go where they will do the most good.
A Statewide Partnership
ClerkStart is made possible by the Rasmuson Foundation and RurAL CAP, in partnership with the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks (AAMC) and the Alaska Municipal League (AML).
Every community that loses a clerk loses a piece of its ability to govern itself. Help us reach the communities we haven’t gotten to yet, expand the video series, and build the workforce pipeline Alaska needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ClerkStart?
ClerkStart is a Build Alaska’s Future Education Fund initiative that tells the stories of local government clerks and works to strengthen Alaska’s civic workforce through public education and awareness.
Who is ClerkStart for?
ClerkStart is for Alaskans who want to understand how local government actually works, young people exploring a meaningful career path, community leaders, educators, and anyone who cares about the long-term sustainability of Alaska’s communities.
How does ClerkStart benefit rural Alaska?
Local government clerks in rural Alaska often carry multiple roles at once, with fewer resources and less backup than their counterparts elsewhere. ClerkStart works across both rural and urban Alaska to make this work visible, preserve the institutional knowledge clerks carry, and bring in the next generation of civic leaders, so that communities don’t lose continuity when a clerk retires or moves on.
Why focus on clerks?
Because local government clerks are the heartbeat of local governance. They make sure elections are run fairly, records are protected, councils and assemblies can function, and communities have continuity, especially during leadership transitions and emergencies. When that role goes unfilled, everything downstream of it is at risk.
What do the ClerkStart videos include?
Interview-driven storytelling from local government clerks and other local government professionals about what the work requires and its importance to community stability, transparency, and public trust.
How is this project funded?
ClerkStart is supported by the Rasmuson Foundation and RurAL CAP. Additional funding will help us complete filming in more communities and expand distribution statewide.
How can I support ClerkStart?
Make a tax-deductible donation at BuildAlaska.org/donate. Your contribution directly supports ClerkStart storytelling, distribution, and outreach to the people who need to see these stories, including the next generation of local government clerks.