Hans Odde

Hans Odde, who has served as first deputy Park County clerk for the past 11 years, last week announced his candidacy for Park County clerk following Clerk Colleen Renner’s recent announcement that she’ll retire at the end of her current term.

“I was always going to be loyal to her [Renner] and never run against her,” Odde said Friday. “And so when she decided to retire, I knew immediately what path I was going to go down.”

Odde, a Republican, brings 22 years of county clerk experience to the race. Before joining the Park County office in January 2015 to be Renner’s first deputy, he served three elected terms as Hot Springs County clerk from 2003 to 2014. Over that span he has managed or been directly involved in every function of the office, from administering elections and balancing budgets to daily public service in the title office. 

He was managing a retail store when he was first approached to run for county clerk in Hot Springs. He finished second in a five-person Republican primary the first time, then defeated the incumbent four years later to begin his service in Thermopolis. Late in his final term he left to move to Cody as the head of marketing for an engineering firm, but soon after connected with Renner who, after seeing his resume and an interview, hired him as her first deputy. 

“I’ve spent 22 years in public service, and being part of my community in this way is important to me,” Odde said. “This isn’t a job I’m learning about from the outside. I’ve been doing it.” 

Throughout his career, Odde has worked closely with state legislators and the executive branch on election integrity laws and best practices. He pointed to Senate File 113, sponsored by Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, as an example of the kind of reform he supports. The bill gives county clerks the authority to conduct hand count audits after the 2026 primary and general elections. 

“I’m very excited about doing this,” he said. “I think that it’s a good check and I think that this is a really good compromise over the hand count recount bill, House Bill 52. That one could have been very onerous, I think, on clerks across the state. And I really do think that this is a good starting point, and depending on how it goes and how it works out, you know, it could be a good thing to prove our tabulators.”

He expects that while the bill likely won’t appease the group of people set on hand counted ballots, it may set at ease people who had some nagging doubts about the security of local elections. 

Beyond voting, the county clerk is also the chief budget officer, and Odde said in that vein, if elected, he would be in position to assist the county commissioners in the wake of the ballot measure this fall that, if passed, would halve residential property taxes and lead to a large decrease in revenues for counties, municipalities and special districts. 

“I think that that’s going to be a challenge to help the commissioners understand where we’re at financially, and be able to work hand in hand with the treasurer’s office on revenues and the assessor’s office on the property tax side, assess value and things like that, and I think my experience in the past will just really shine through on that,” he said. 

At this point Odde is the lone declared candidate for the position. The primary election is Aug. 18.