While overseeing elections will be his key assignment, Lt. Gov.-elect Gary Herbert says he doesn't plan big changes in how the State Elections Office operates. But there may be a few tweaks:

He wants to bump up notice of deadlines for filing campaign finance disclosures to ensure no candidate is removed from the ballot, as required by state law.

Like his boss, Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr., Herbert believes campaign donations should have no limits, as under current state law. But he wants to see immediate public disclosure of those contributions.

As a longtime county commissioner, he vows that local officials will have a big say in the $20 million purchase of new voting equipment that Utah plans as part of the federal Help America Vote Act.

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On Jan. 3, the entire staff of the State Elections Office could be gone and new political appointees installed by an incoming administration.

While not likely, it's possible. State Elections Director Amy Naccarato, for one, isn't counting on keeping her job.

Unlike most state agencies or departments, the tiny State Elections Office is staffed entirely by at-will employees. The five workers in the office, who guide county clerks and handle state races, have no civil service protection and can be fired for no reason.

That worries some.

"If someone were trying to be political, they could be," says Salt Lake City attorney and Democrat Lawrence Barusch, noting that voters need to be able to trust their election process.

"There's always going to be an intrinsic level of suspicion. And it seems to me that to make our system work as well as it could, we should have these things so that people won't” question the integrity of elections.

Utah's Republican-controlled Legislature has repeatedly shot down proposals to create an independent, bipartisan elections commission.

But Lt. Gov.-elect Gary Herbert - who soon will take over as Utah's chief election officer - says no one should worry about wholesale firings.

"We're going to interview them all and see if they want to stick around," says Herbert, an outgoing Utah County Commissioner. "I have no real desire to clean house. We need to have some continuity."

The Elections Office does not run the polls or count votes, but it does oversee state candidate and initiative elections, campaign finance disclosure and laws and lobbyist regulation. It also offers training and advice to local election workers.

"By and large," Herbert says, "the perception I have as a county commissioner is that elections are run very well in the state and the election office is run efficiently and with cooperation with the county clerks."

He vows to continue that cooperation, and although he won't say it, it will probably be without its current director.

Naccarato, who has served nearly six years, says she is proceeding under the assumption she will not be reappointed. "I am pursuing other opportunities," she acknowledges.

Some of her employees also fear losing their jobs, Naccarato adds.

But she isn't sold on the idea that the elections office should be filled with merit employees who cannot be terminated without substantial cause.

"I can see benefits of having the lieutenant governor surrounded by a staff that agrees with his policies," Naccarato says. "On the other hand, if we were to lose that historical knowledge [from the current staff] . . . a loss of that kind would really hurt."

She agrees the office should be protected from political influence and approach elections in an independent and nonpartisan manner. "Is the potential there [for political meddling]? Sure. Has it happened? No," Naccarato says.

State Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake City, who has followed election issues closely, says she, for one, would not like to see a huge shake-up with state election officials. "I would hate to see us having to start from scratch," she said. "There would be a very high learning curve."

While county clerks are elected officials, most of their election workers are not political appointees. Salt Lake County Election Director Julio Garcia, for example, is a merit employee.

For now, Herbert says he is not sure whether the State Elections Office should follow the county model. That's a decision that will come later, he says, once he has taken office and sees what works and what doesn't.

"I haven't been in the saddle yet," says Herbert. "So as a principle, it's hard to know what the ride is like."

tburr@sltrib.com