Jefferson County Clerk Jeannie Goff has announced she will not seek reelection in 2026.
She made that announcement on June 17, and a day later, state Rep. Ken Waller (District 114-Herculaneum), who previously served as Jefferson County Clerk, told the Leader he was considering running for the office. His current term in the Missouri House ends Jan. 6, 2027.
Goff, 59, of De Soto has worked in the county clerk’s office for 39 years, the last four running the office as county clerk. She will retire at the end of her term, which also ends in early January.
She said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her family after retiring.
“After almost 40 years here, I think it’s time for retirement,” Goff said. “I’m excited about spending more time with my grandbaby, my family and friends, especially because they supported me through all my years here, knowing that I was not always available to them.”
She and her husband, Don, have two daughters, a granddaughter and another grandchild on the way.
Goff worked as second in command under Waller, when he was county clerk from 2019 to 2022. The two also worked together when Waller served as county executive for eight years, from 2011 through 2018. Waller also served as the county treasurer from 2005-2008.
“(Goff) is the hardest-working, most dedicated employee I’ve ever met,” Waller said. “She’s a class act, (and) the county is going to miss her. I’m sorry to see her retire, but I understand that you put enough time in, and you want to spend time with your family and your grandchildren. I wish her the best.”
Waller, 63, said he hasn’t yet decided whether to run for the county clerk office again, but thinks it is a possibility. With Goff retiring, he said, it would serve the county well to have someone with experience head up the office.
The office serves as the election authority for Jefferson County, accepting candidate filings and coordinating elections and ballot issues. The office also provides licensing and notary services, along with maintaining public records, such as campaign finance disclosures and tax levy certifications.
Waller says Goff has a lot of institutional knowledge about the office.
“That is going to be the hardest thing to replace here, when it comes to the new clerk taking over, because the clerk won’t have Jeannie Goff,” he said.
After more than three decades of working in the clerk’s office as deputy chief to the elected clerk, Goff decided to run for the office, as a Republican, in the 2022 election. She was elected, winning 68.66 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Tracy Johnson’s 31.18 percent.
During her career, Goff worked under five county clerks, starting in 1986 with the late Eleanor Koch Rehm and then followed by Janet McMillian, Wes Wagner, Randy Holman and Waller.
Goff joked that the office staff should write a book about their experiences coordinating elections over the years.
One election in the late 1980s or early 1990s was particularly notable, Goff said.
“One of our polling sites filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors the Friday before the election,” she said. “We set up a tent in the parking lot of the grocery store that we were using at the time, off Hwy. 30 (in High Ridge), and set up a polling place. It all worked out great, but that was probably the craziest thing we had to deal with, especially back in the day when we didn’t have social media and had already mailed out notifications.
“We had to do some quick thinking in a matter of a couple of hours to get the polls going. No matter what, you don’t get to change Election Day. You just have to move forward and make the best of the situation that you have.”
County Executive Dennis Gannon, who announced late last year that he would not seek reelection in 2026, said Goff is instrumental in running smooth elections in the county. He added that Goff is the person he seeks whenever he’s looking for historical knowledge and information.
“(Goff) is just a good person, and when she retires, she will be missed, that’s for sure,” Gannon said. “Every time an election rolls around, Jeannie is always on point, making sure nothing is going wrong.”
Waller said he and Goff worked together to execute many of her ideas while he was the county clerk. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the clerk’s office to develop new processes for mail-in ballots, absentee voting and satellite polling locations, all of which allowed Jefferson Countians to safely exercise their right to vote.
“I thought she had great ideas,” Waller said. “She wanted to make sure every election was as perfect as could be. Her goal was to make the election and the process the best she could, and a lot of good people worked in that office to help her achieve that.”
Goff said she believes whoever is elected as the next county clerk will be set up for success because the office staff members have a lot of knowledge and will be eager to help.
“Between the staff learning through everyone else, training sessions and working with other counties, they have learned a lot and have the tools needed in front of them,” she said. “I think they will be very successful. You can’t control all situations. You just have to do the best you can with the resources you have.
“The best thing to have is good communication with others and good relationships with other departments and offices that can help you out.”
The County Clerk is paid an $86,120 annual salary. Filing for the Aug. 4, 2026, primary election runs from Feb. 24, 2026, through March 31, 2026. The general election will be Nov. 3, 2026.
Goff is a lifelong county resident and graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School in Crystal City and attended Jefferson College.