Meredith Place for Kalamazoo County Clerk/Register

It’s official – I have filed for re-election as Kalamazoo County Clerk/Register of Deeds! It is my privilege to serve you and our county in this capacity, and I am asking for your support in 2024.

When I first ran for this office in 2020, I pledged to prioritize Customer Service, Accessibility, Improved Outreach and Engagement, and Security and Integrity of our elections. I am extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish since then, including:

• Improving customer service levels by opening the office to walk-in customers during the lunch hour and offering bilingual service
• Successfully administered several safe, secure and accurate local, state and federal elections and recounts. In addition, led the first-ever Kalamazoo County Early Voting effort to administer 9 days of early, in-person voting at 4 early voting sites across Kalamazoo County.
• Updated necessary technology in the office to allow customers to conveniently access certified copies of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, and property records online from home or work.
• We have greatly increased access to our land records by exponentially growing our digital database. When I took office, land record images online went back to 1992 - by the end of my first term in office Kalamazoo County will have a record index and most images of records dating back to 1836 preserved digitally and available online.
• Launched a new “mobile unit” service to bring the Larry Provancher Kalamazoo County ID Program to dozens of locations throughout Kalamazoo County. Through this intentional outreach the program has continued to grow and has now issued 6,452 unique new IDs in its 6 year history.
• Launched a free “Property Fraud Alert” service available to all Kalamazoo County resident

When I took office in 2021, I found a great team waiting for me ready to get to work on these and other projects to deliver for Kalamazoo County residents. I am so tremendously proud of what our Clerk/Register team has accomplished over these past four years, and I see brighter days yet ahead for Kalamazoo County Government. I hope I can count on your support to keep that momentum going through 2024 and beyond.

With appreciation,

Meredith Place
Kalamazoo County Clerk/Register of Deeds

Meredith Place is serving in her first term as the Kalamazoo County Clerk/Register of Deeds. As the official “keeper of the record,” the County Clerk/ Register is responsible for receipt and safeguarding of public records including, but not limited to, birth, death, and marriage records, property records, and concealed pistol licenses as well as serving as the Chief Election Official of the County.

Meredith was born and raised in a small town in Eastern Iowa. Growing up, she learned that hard work and determination were recipes for success and caring for your neighbors was a moral responsibility. She is a proud graduate of the University of Iowa where she majored in Political Science, Communication Studies, and earned a certificate in Sustainability.

Meredith has been an active member of her community since calling Michigan home. She previously served on the City of Portage’s Planning Commission, as Vice Chair of Kalamazoo County’s Environmental Health Advisory Council, and as an active member in the League of Women Voters. In 2018, Meredith was elected to the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioner representing the City of Portage from 2019-2020.

Clerk Place is active with the Michigan Association of County Clerks (MACC) and the Michigan Association of Registers of Deeds (MARD). She was appointed in 2021 by Governor Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Electronic Recording Commission.

Meredith lives in Portage with her husband, John Taylor and their two children.

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