Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Ann Howard works at her desk at the municipal building in Radford. Howard is the only person in today's race for the city's circuit court clerk.

They're electing a clerk today in Radford.

Most likely, they're electing Ann Howard the city's circuit court clerk. That prediction isn't going too far out on a limb. Howard is the only person in the race. And her race is the only one Radford's voters are deciding.

"I'm the only thing on the ballot," Howard said last week. "I've had so many people say, 'I'll be at the polls. I'm going to vote for you.' And I'm like, 'That's just so nice.' That really takes an effort for someone to do that when I'm the only thing on the ballot."

Howard is on the ballot because Zelda Vaughn retired Dec. 31. Vaughn started working in the clerk's office in 1975 and had been clerk since 1996.

J.C. Harman, the clerk who preceded Vaughn, also retired. He endorsed Vaughn, who won a three-way race by a 2-to-1 margin.

Howard, Vaughn's deputy clerk, was sworn in as interim clerk Jan. 1. Howard is Harman's daughter. She remembers what it was like when her dad ran for the job and had opposition.

"We've done the whole election thing," Howard said. "And I do remember how stressful that can be."

Her first run for office has been virtually stress-free. All she's done in the way of campaigning is put out some yard signs and buy a few newspaper ads. She plans to be at the polls, too.

She might be lonely.

"If we turn out 500 people, I'll be terribly surprised," said Tracy Howard, Radford's voter registrar and Ann Howard's husband.

As of last week, five votes had been cast, counting mailed-in absentee ballots and those who'd come by the office to vote absentee, Tracy Howard said.

In May, three people competed for two city council seats; three other people ran for two spots on the school board. Only 900 of Radford's 6,700 registered voters turned out for that election, he said.

According to the Virginia Court Clerks Association Web site, the office traces its history to 1619, when the House of Burgesses was created and it created constitutional offices. The Clerks Association also says the Code of Virginia lists more than 800 things for which each clerk -- there's one for every county and city in Virginia -- is responsible.

As the name implies, circuit court clerks take care of court files. They also assemble juries, record deeds, maintain a law library for public use, look after historic records, act as probate judges, issue marriage licenses and concealed handgun permits and collect some fines, fees and taxes -- among other duties.

They used to be important political players, too.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said court clerks were important cogs in the political machine that ran Virginia for much of the 20th century. When Harry F. Byrd's organization was the dominant political force in the commonwealth, court clerks were the source of much of the organization's intelligence.

"It's an administrative office that requires a lot of time in the courthouse," Sabato said, "or at least it did at that time. ... The courthouse was the center, not only of political power, but also of community activity."

If anything happened in their jurisdiction, the clerks knew about it. If anything important happened, they passed the information to the organization's inner circle.

"The clerks were Byrd's eyes and ears," Sabato said. "They saw everything."

And clerks tended to stay on the job for a long time.

"Once a clerk was in," Sabato said, "he basically was there for life."

One reason for that is the long term that goes with the job. Members of the House of Delegates are elected for two years at a time. State senators have four-year terms. The governor gets four years, but can't serve consecutive terms. Circuit court clerks have eight years of office holding between elections.

Vaughn retired two years before her term ended, so Ann Howard is running to finish out Vaughn's term. Then she'll have to stand for re-election if she wants to keep being the clerk.

With all that power and history and longevity built into the job, a person might expect more people to be interested in holding it. But this time, at least, it looks like Howard is the only one.

"I've had callers call and ask whether or not write-ins were allowed, that sort of thing," Tracy Howard said. "But I don't know that anyone is running a campaign per se."

Tracy Howard estimated the election will cost the city $3,500 to $4,000. A gubernatorial election costs $5,000 to $6,000, he said.