19-year-old elected as Hays County District Clerk

News Reporter

SAN MARCOS – In the 2022 mid-term election, Avrey Anderson was elected as District Clerk for Hays County, beating the incumbent District Clerk, Beverly Crumley, who has 30 years of experience in office, by an estimate of 2,500 votes.

Avrey Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Dripping Spring Highschool in 2021 and is currently obtaining an associate degree in Computer Information Technology at Austin Community College (ACC).

Anderson grew interested in politics around the age of 15, and eventually decided that he wanted to serve the people of Hays County. He feels that you can make a bigger influence and serve the public more efficiently if you can become a public servant and put your energy into it.

“You can make more of an impact in your community’s lives,” said Anderson. “You can do better and serve your public better if you become a public servant.”

The role of the District Clerk is to keep records of all documents in the district court. The clerk records all case filings, takes fees for the court, and records all the happenings within the court in any case.

Transparency with Hays County residents is top of mind for County Clerk-elect Anderson. “I can make it more transparent on when you are supposed to pay for your court orders and your fees.” said Anderson. “I can make it more transparent on what you’re supposed to file, where you are supposed to go for jury duty, what you are supposed to do for jury duty, how you get out of jury duty and the exceptions that get you out of it or allow you to serve.”

Anderson has no experience in this field but feels that age has nothing to do with his qualification for the job. Anderson says that success is not about your age, but your maturity level, your ability to stay focused, be personable and do the best you can.

“I would say you have to definitely have maturity and you have to have a hard-work ethic, because if you do not have either of those things then you will not do well in your office,” said Anderson. “Your age that doesn’t matter because, you know, if your age is qualifiable then it’s qualifiable. You are going to do the same education that any other person is going to be required to do to fulfill the roles of that office.”

One of the major parts of being the District Clerk is to oversee all files. Anderson feels that the process of filing any sort of form can be challenging for the community. He acknowledges that we have a big county and aspires to work towards creating an online system to make filing forms easily accessible for everyone.

“If you go to the government website there are not many forms that you can directly fill out online to make it easier for people,” said Anderson. “They’ve got to have access to a printer, they’ve got to have access to all kinds of different things. They have to be able to post it, and even then, it might get lost, it might go to the wrong department and get trashed.”

Anderson believes he can positively impact Hays County and promises that he will do his best to serve the community and do everything he can to make sure the office is as efficient as possible.

To learn more about the District Clerk position visit the Texas Association of Counties Website.