LOGAN – If you’re a bit bewildered about exactly what’s going to happen on Saturday, April 13, don’t feel bad.
Many of your fellow Republicans are also confused about how events will play out during the Cache County Nominating Convention at Mount Logan Middle School that day.
“We’ve had some questions — with the special election being combined with our nominating convention — about who will vote in which races,” said Geoff Cox, the chair of the GOP here in Cache in Cache County. “Hopefully, this (explanation) helps.”
Following credentialing and a candidate open house from 8 to 9 a.m., the first order of business will be a special election for the post of Cache County Clerk/Auditor.
Thanks to the recent resignation of Clerk/Auditor David Benson, a special election is required to select a temporary replacement for Benson to serve out his term of office until January of 2025.
As of April 2, former deputy clerk and election supervisor Bryson Behm is the only candidate who has filed for that special election.
That’s where the confusion begins, Cox explained. County delegates and precinct officers — chairs, vice chairs, secretaries and treasurers — will be eligible to vote in that special election, which is likely to take place by acclamation unless another candidate files by 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 6.
With that accomplished, county delegates — as well as precinct chairs in their roles as ex-officio delegates – will begin the convention’s real business, which is selecting their preferred candidates for other county and state positions up for re-election.
But Cox said the precinct vice chairs, secretaries and treasurers will not vote in that process, unless they were also selected as county delegates in the previous March caucuses.
The county’s delegates will select two candidates for each local position who will advance to the GOP primary in June.
The only exceptions to that rule will be if a single candidate wins enough delegate votes to bypass the primary. The threshold for bypassing the primary is garnering 70 percent of delegate votes at the county convention.
Cox emphasized that it is the responsibility of the county delegates to learn as much as possible about the candidates by perusing their websites and/or attending any of the various candidate events being sponsored by the Cache GOP.
Another possible source of confusion for county delegates is the upcoming splitting of the responsibilities of the county clerk/auditor’s office.
Since 2013, those responsibilities have been combined into a single office at county level.
The Cache County Council voted in October of 2023, however, to split the responsibilities of the clerk and auditor into two offices, resulting in separate elections in November of this year.
In the running for the new post of county auditor are Dianna Schaeffer, the current county tax administrator; Brittany Kingston, the county’s budget analyst; Dirk Anderson, the chief deputy to County Executive David Zook; and Matthew C. Funk, a certified public accountant in private practice.
Now running for the county clerk’s post in the November election are Behm and challenger Sebastian Luu.
For County Attorney, incumbent Taylor Sorensen is running against Cameron Cox, a local public defender.
In contention for the Logan 1 seat on the Cache County Council are incumbent Karl Ward and challenger Keegan Garrity.
Incumbent council vice chair Barbara Tidwell is running unopposed to retain her Logan 2 seat on the Cache County Council.
Vying for the North District seat on the Cache County Council are incumbent Council Chair David Erickson against challenger Jon-David Jorgensen.
In contention for the South District seat on the Cache County Council are incumbent council member Nolan Gunnell and former County Recorder Devron Andersen.
Running unopposed to retain their county posts are Recorder Tennille Johnson, Treasurer Craig McAllister and Assessor Brett Robinson.
At state legislative level, Sen. Chris Wilson is running unopposed in Senate District 2, as are Rep. Thomas Peterson in House District 1 and Rep. Mike Petersen in House District 2.
In House District 3, former Cache County Council member Paul Borup is running against River Heights Mayor Jason Thompson.
Also running unopposed is Rep. Casey Snider in House District 5.
For the dates and times of various candidate forums, delegates are advised to go online to https://www.cachegop.com/
The Mount Logan Middle School is located at 875 North, 200 East in Logan.