From collection Candidates
Annie Baxter was elected County Clerk of Jasper County, Missouri in 1890. Her electoral opponent, Julius Fischer, contested the election on the grounds that women were not eligible.Baxter, however, remained in the race; the Greene County [MO] Circuit Court upheld Baxter's election. She defeated Fischer to become the first woman elected to office in the state of Missouri and the first female County Clerk in the United States. Baxter ran for re-election in 1894, but lost to a Republican challenger. During her tenure, Baxter became known for her work ethic and later was appointed State Registrar of Lands by Missouri Secretary of State Cornelius Roach in 1916. In 1922, Baxter was appointed the the financial secretary of the Missouri Constitutional Convention, and later was elected as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention in 1936.
