By Dave Niinemets
Enquirer contributor

BURLINGTON - Two prominent names in Boone County politics will face each other on the November ballot. Republican Jay Hall will try to unseat Democrat Marilyn Rouse in the race for Boone County Clerk.

Ms. Rouse, a Burlington resident, has served in the office since 1998, when she won by less than a 1 percent margin. She succeeded her father and longtime County Clerk Jerry Rouse. She is also president of Florence Kiwanis.

Mr. Hall of Florence is no stranger to the local political scene. He is former head of the Boone County Republican Party as well as former chairman of the Fourth Congressional District Republican Party. He works as a paralegal at the Crestview Hills-based Deters, Benzinger and LaVelle law firm.

The central issue of this race is the status of technology and service in the clerk's office. Mr. Hall says it needs to get better, while Ms. Rouse says it's gotten much better since she's been there.

Mr. Hall wants to see accelerated implementation of a real-estate parcel identification system, networking between Florence and Burlington office, more efficient new-car registration and increased efficiency between the Property Valuation Administrator and Sheriff's department.

Ms. Rouse says she has kept her promise to voters in 1998 that she would modernize the office.

She cited quicker turnaround time for records, elimination of microfilming documents, a new document indexing system, upgraded motor vehicle registration with processing at Florence as well as Burlington, Internet access to courthouse documents and a new Web site as examples of improvements she's made.