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Peg Perl
Peg Perl ran for election for Denver City Clerk and Recorder in Colorado. She lost in the general runoff election on June 4, 2019.
Perl completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Perl earned a B.A. in history and Russian from Arizona State University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. Perl is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Her professional experience includes working as a government and nonprofit lawyer and as a University of Denver adjunct professor.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Denver, Colorado (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Denver City Clerk and Recorder
Paul López defeated Peg Perl in the general runoff election for Denver City Clerk and Recorder on June 4, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul López (Nonpartisan)  | 50.1 | 72,596 |
 | Peg Perl (Nonpartisan) | 49.9 | 72,199 | |
| Total votes: 144,795 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Denver City Clerk and Recorder
Paul López and Peg Perl advanced to a runoff. They defeated Sarah McCarthy in the general election for Denver City Clerk and Recorder on May 7, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul López (Nonpartisan) | 36.9 | 53,347 |
| ✔ | | Peg Perl (Nonpartisan) | 32.7 | 47,284 |
| Sarah McCarthy (Nonpartisan) | 30.4 | 44,040 | ||
| Total votes: 144,671 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Peg Perl completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Perl's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
An overarching main priority will be to improve accountability and transparency in city government by integrating the information and accessibility of all divisions of the Clerk’s office. This effort will also involve gathering community input on improving the transparency of public records access and search-ability of information in the Clerk’s office and I will post a full inventory or directory of all public records available, because there are a number of city records that are not advertised as such. My main priorities for administering the four elections to be held in the first 18 months of the new Clerk’s term will be: (1) keep informed and updating our security protocols for ballot processing and counting; (2) expand automatic voter registration and updating of addresses when voters access city services, (3) increase community involvement in determining drop-box and voter service locations and hours; and (4) continue to collaborate with community groups for targeted programs to welcome more voting by immigrants, youth, those experiencing homelessness, and voters with disabilities.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
I am running for Denver Clerk because I’ve spent my legal career working to make government more open and accountable to all people, not just the wealthy and well-connected. For 15 years my focus has fighting for people in the core areas of the Denver Clerk’s responsibilities: voting rights, campaign finance, public records access, and government ethics. I also know what is is like to wait in line for hours to vote while trying to entertain my toddler and hoping my boss won’t be mad that I’m late. For years, I’ve helped people frustrated by trying to access public information or records being stopped by fees and other hurdles to finding what they need. These are the issues our communities face that can be addressed by both policy changes and administration by the Denver Clerk.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
I am passionate about connecting people with their government to increase community participation in governing, and have a track-record of bipartisan success in passing and implementing reforms and increase government accountability and transparency. In my past positions at the Federal Election Commission and US House Ethics Committee, I administered campaign finance and government ethics disclosure programs in an government agency. As a nonprofit advocate for the people in Colorado, I was a leader in the creation and implementation of our modern voting laws, which set a gold standard for the nation. We also increased transparency to residents by reforming open records laws to reduce fees and improve digital access to public records. Through the passage of these reforms and implementation at the county level, I have built respected relationships with state and other county leaders. At the local level, I have collaborated with the current Denver Clerk and City Council to improve transparency of city lobbyist reporting, update the code of ethics, and modernize Denver’s campaign rules to reduce the amount of “dark money” in city elections. I was also a leader on the policy team that developed the Fair Elections Fund passed overwhelmingly in Denver last November to be implemented and administered by the next Denver Clerk.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
The Denver Clerk is elected independently from the Mayor and City Council because it the office is responsible for administering vital programs which affect the trust and confidence that residents have in their city government. Therefore, the Clerk should have experience in the technical areas that the office oversees, such as elections and public records, and be committed to making services and information accessible to all residents without regard to political considerations. The office is also an administrative agency with rulemaking and public advisory responsibilities, so the Clerk should be committed to working with stakeholders, community groups, and holding robust and accessible public hearings and town halls on proposed rule changes and decisions that affect the community, such as locations of vote centers and drop boxes. Finally, the Clerk is an important representative of the city working with the Secretary of State, legislative leaders, and the other County Clerks across Colorado in elections, public records, and land recording or public trustee issues and must have relationships and the ability to lead if necessary on measures at a statewide level.
What legacy would you like to leave?
The Clerk’s ultimate mission is to connect residents to the city government, not only through direct service offerings like land recordings and marriage licenses, but by supporting public participation in governing on election day and every other day when policy is made in our city. My vision for the Clerk’s office is one that breaks down remaining barriers to voting for some communities and ensures equal access to public information regarding city decisions. People have more faith in government when we have transparent and easy to understand campaign finance, lobbyist, gift reports, city contracts, and other public information disclosures. These improvements also have to be made with community input and collaboration from leaders within the community so that the Clerk’s voting locations, resident information, and websites are easy to be used by everyone. For example, the office can provide important resident information in many languages, and have websites that are mobile-friendly despite the many people who’s only access to the internet is on a phone. An effective Clerk is one who instills confidence in city government, where residents know that their votes are secure and will be counted, but also that their voice matters and can be heard in city governing.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
I'm running to keep city government open and accountable to all residents, not just those already well-connected.[2] |
” |
| —Peg Perl[1] | ||
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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