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Utah County Clerk candidate Corey Astill talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Utah County Clerk candidate Corey Astill talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Utah County Clerk candidate Corey Astill talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lehi resident Corey Astill is challenging incumbent Aaron Davidson for the position of Utah County clerk. 

In the lead-up to the June 23 Republican primary against Davidson, Astill met with the Daily Herald editorial board for an interview about his campaign and plans for office. 

Astill said he did not initially aspire to run for county clerk but said he thought the position needed new leadership and he felt compelled to do it. 

Some critics have questioned his desire to have the job and whether he has the experience. Astill said he is fully capable of the task, citing his career experience as an attorney and former senior advisor in the U.S. Senate. 

“The reason I’m running is we need someone in this job who wants to do the job,” Astill said.

“I think what we have is a situation with a current county clerk who wants to change the law, who wants to have food fights with the lieutenant governor over all kinds of different things, and what we really need is somebody who is going to be detail-oriented and wants to actually do this job.” 

Pitch for change 

Astill said his top priority in office would be to bring stability. He criticized Davidson’s track record, citing ballot shortage issues during the 2024 election and Davidson’s decision to stop providing paid return postage for ballots.

“These are very easy things we can do up front, is stop confusing voters and bring stability to the office,” Astill said. 

Davidson has been critical of Utah’s election process, previously stating mail-in ballots are not “safe and secure” and lamenting the signature verification process. 

Astill expressed support for the mail-in ballots, saying they are “overwhelmingly” popular with state voters. He said the current system is working. 

“The bottom line is, we are not seeing widespread fraud, and he’s claimed that — that’s what he ran on — and it’s just not true,” Astill said. “It’s not true. That’s not what we’re seeing. It would be something if we were seeing that, and we would need to address it, but we are not, and so I think that it completely undermines the system. It completely undermines trust in elections.” 

Astill said Davidson was too involved in policymaking and said the job does not have policymaking authority. When asked whether the clerk’s office should be involved in working with government officials to address problems, Astill said the office can use its technical expertise to make suggestions and improvement but must be mindful as to what degree. 

“We can actually do a little bit better. We can help the voters. We can do better customer service,” he said. “That’s entirely different than spending every legislative session being up there bashing mail-in ballots, making it basically a crusade to get rid of mail-in ballots, to make it harder to vote by mail.” 

Lessons from Washington

Astill said his time working in Washington D.C. taught him how he would operate in the clerk position. 

He worked as a staff director of the Senate Joint Economic Committee and later as vice president of the Business Roundtable, where he said he handled health care and tax issues, working with business stakeholders from around the country. 

He said he developed management and detail skills while learning how to be transparent and work with people. 

“I know how to manage a process, and elections are probably our most high-profile, important process that we have in America, and I think it’s just crucial that we have transparency. I know how to move process so that there’s buy-in,” he said. 

Astill said he wants to restore trust in the system. 

“It’s so unfortunate where we’re at right now in our country, and even in our county. There’s just so much distrust based on information that just isn’t accurate about how votes are counted and how they’re collected and things,” he said. “And I’m not saying that I can wave the wand and make it better, but I can do my part.”