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Lynnette Coe has announced that she is running for a second term for Clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince Edward County.  She has been with the Clerk’s office since 1996 and has served as Clerk of the Circuit Court since 2018. 

Coe is a 1990 graduate of Buckingham County High School. She began a career of serving the public in 1985 at the age of 13, when she worked at the former Sheppard’s Country Corner, currently Millbrook, all while attending school. Upon graduation from high school, she was hired as a teller at Investors Savings Bank in Farmville, and she moved to Prince Edward County. In 1991, Investors Savings Bank was bought out, and the Farmville branch closed. Coe was then hired as a teller with First Virginia Bank, where she quickly advanced to customer service representative. 

In December, 1996, she accepted a position as a deputy clerk for the Prince Edward County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. She was appointed as Chief Deputy Clerk in April 2005 by Machelle J. Eppes and automatically assumed the role of clerk upon Eppes’ retirement April 1, 2018. Coe was elected Clerk in a Special Election held in November 2018. 

Coe was certified as a deputy clerk in September 2006, by the University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, and in August 2022, she completed the Court Management Program through the National Center for State Courts and achieved the status of Certified Court Manager. Her experience includes more than 26 years of performing all the duties of the clerk of court, which include maintaining all records in the clerk’s office, opening and maintaining criminal, civil, adoption, will and estate files, preparing reports for state and local agencies, preparing and implementing state and local budgets, maintaining juror information and preparing for jury trials, maintaining funds held by the court, preparing and processing court orders and assisting judges with case files in and out of the courtroom, just to name a few.  

“I, along with my deputies, Jennifer Trombley, Melinda Toney, Chelsey George, Jessica Dedmond, Riley Long, and Chris Bailey, strive every day to meet the needs of the citizens, attorneys, judges, fellow constitutional officers – anyone who visits or has interaction with the clerk’s office,” Coe said. “With over 800 duties to perform and oversee, I am thankful and blessed to have such a dedicated staff”.  

Since being elected clerk, Coe has implemented acceptance of online court cost and restitution payments, overseen the relocation of the clerks office in 2019, implemented electronic recording of land records and electronic filing of civil cases, received grant funds from the Library of Virginia to have the grantor and grantee indexes from 1754 to 1916 digitized, and partnered with ezJury for a more efficient, user friendly jury system that allows jurors to submit requests for exemption and receive notifications via text or email regarding upcoming jury service through a secure portal. 

“I love my job, and it has been my pleasure to serve as Circuit Court Clerk of Prince Edward County. I am asking for your vote on November 7”, Coe said. 

She has secured the Democratic nomination.

Coe is the widow of the late, Billy Coe, who tragically passed June 4, 2021. They have one daughter, Teri Lynn. Coe is the daughter of Billy and Carol Crump of Sheppards and the daughter-in-law of Joan, and the late Howard Simpson, of Farmville.