Poli Sci prof. wins seat with 608 votes
Damon Cann, assistant professor of political science at USU, is one of three newly elected individuals chosen in North Logan’s general city council election Tuesday, Nov. 8.
“I’m thrilled,” Cann said. “I worked as hard as I could to try to make this happen. I can’t really claim credit for my success on my own. I have quite a few people who have been supporting me, advising me, endorsing me, putting up signs, passing out fliers and just helping in a variety of ways to help make this happen.”
According to general election results, as of Tuesday night, Cann had the most votes of all six candidates who ran, with 608.
Roger T. Anderson came in behind Cann with 587 votes, followed by Kristen Godfrey Anderson, who received 566 votes and took the final remaining council seat. North Logan City Recorder Scott Bennett said there are a total of 24 absentee and provisional ballots that must be tallied over the next couple of weeks, but he believes the winners will remain the same.
Bennett said he was hoping to see at least a 20 percent voter turnout for the general election, out of nearly 5,000 registered North Logan voters. He said there was a 14 percent turnout for the primaries.
“We came in at 22.5 percent of voters turning out,” Bennett said. “So, I’m happy with that.”
Historically, there have been a handful of university faculty members have sat on local and state governments and Cann joins those ranks, winning what many said could have been “anybody’s race.”
Bennett said from the primary to the general election, the results show what voters wanted after what started out as a tight race between the six candidates who moved on through the primary election.
“Now when I teach my class on campaigns and elections,” Cann said, “I’m not just telling them about other people’s elections, I can tell them about mine.”
Cann, 34, a four-year resident of North Logan said he and his wife new shortly after they moved to Cache Valley this is where they wanted to “put down roots.” He said his goal as a council member is to maintain the safety and pleasant family-friendly atmosphere the city has.
“Already there are some significant issues on the agenda that need to be addressed,” Cann said. “We’ve got some issues in terms of a potential boundary realignment with Logan, and I’m anxious to get involved with that.”
He said there are also various infrastructure needs around the city, and he is planning on being proactive in maintaining safety and security.
“(I’ll) make sure if we see threats or problems arising that we jump on those quickly,” he said, “rather than waiting for it to become a big problem.”
After Cann’s neighbor and North Logan Councilwoman Nancy Potter suggested Cann run for city government, he said he began to think about the possibility and decided to add his name to the ballot.
Cann won the primary election along with five other candidates within a field of 11 other North Logan residents all vying for one of three open city council seats.
In January the three newly elected council members will be sworn into office, but Cann said he’ll be at the next meeting to continue his preparations as a North Logan council member.
Cann said he and his family were happy to find out he won and learn his hard work paid off. He said it was nice to know the celebrating they did in the hours before votes were tallied was justified.
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu