Deva Marie Proto running for Sonoma County clerk-recorder-assessor and registrar of voters

A second Sonoma County government employee has decided to run for election next year to become the county’s next clerk-recorder-assessor and elections chief.

Deva Marie Proto, Sonoma County’s chief deputy clerk-recorder, recently announced her campaign for the department’s top job. Proto, 36, joins another internal candidate, assessment process specialist Rod Marusic, in seeking to succeed Bill Rousseau, who decided to retire instead of running for reelection in 2018.

Proto, of Santa Rosa, has served in her current role about 4 1/2 years and been a county employee for about a decade. She is in charge of 17 full-time staff members in a division responsible for issuing marriage licenses, filing statements of fictitious business names and recording various property records, among other duties.

As head of the entire clerk-recorder-assessor department and the registrar of voters, she would oversee an office with a $19.8 million budget and about 108 jobs, with additional duties including property assessments and managing elections.

“I think I would do a great job,” Proto said. “I have all the qualifications, I have a proven track record in the clerk recorder side and I’ve worked with the assessor and registrar of voters over the years.”

If elected, Proto would continue the office’s efforts to become more efficient with technological improvements, working on new voting systems and programs, and “making sure that everybody in the county is treated fairly,” she said.

Proto said she already has early support from Sonoma County supervisors Susan Gorin and Lynda Hopkins, as well as her would-be predecessor. Rousseau said previously that Proto had “done an excellent job with everything she’s handled in our office.”

Proto holds an undergraduate degree in communications and a master’s degree in public administration from Sonoma State University.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.