Secretary of State Wayne Williams met Tuesday with local residents and Prowers County Clerk Jana Coen in the second stop of three town-hall meetings in southeastern Colorado.

“It was good,” Coen said, of the secretary’s visit to Lamar. “He asked if his office was providing the services we need, and I told him they are.”

Williams earlier in the day visited with Baca County residents, and after Lamar he headed to Eads for a town hall meeting in Kiowa County.

Sen. Larry Crowder, who accompanied Williams, called the town halls informative.

“We had a lot of questions from the audience. They asked about veterans issues and economic development and elections,” Crowder said. “It was very productive.”

Coen worked in the clerk’s office for 20 years before becoming clerk seven years ago. “I thought I knew everything about the office when I got elected, but ‘Whoa,'” she said.

County clerks statewide offer a variety of services, from motor vehicle registrations to recording all kinds of documents, including marriage licenses. They also run elections. Coen now has six staffers after she recently hired someone to help with elections.

Her office this week mailed out around 1,300 ballots to Democrats and around 2,700 ballots to Republicans in Prowers County for the June 28 primary election. The only contested race is the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, which features five candidates. The legislative, commission and other races are not contested in the primary election.

To read more posts by Lynn Bartels, visit her official blog at the Colorado Secretary of State website.