The Cache Valley League of Women Voters hosted a forum Monday night at the First Presbyterian Church in Logan featuring candidates running for Cache County Council, the Utah State Legislature, and Utah State Senate. The Cache County Clerk candidates kept returning to a topic that is currently of major concern to Utahns: election security.
The candidates for Cache County Clerk are incumbent Bryson Behm and challenger David R. Gillie.
Election security was the big issue of the night, with Gillie reiterating his stance against mail-in ballots and Behm reinforcing how he had cleaned up the election process during his time in office.
Behm was selected as interim Cache County Clerk in April following the resignation of his predecessor, David Benson. Behm mentioned several times how the previous county clerk had broken over 30 state election laws. Behm also shared that he has since implemented several security measures to ensure a secure election, including tightening up the chain of command for ballots.
Gillie, who has not previously run for public office, touted his 30 years of experience in the Navy as a qualifying factor for his candidacy. Gillie rose to the rank of commander while serving. He then decided to run for county clerk after retiring, gaining an endorsement from the Cache County Conservatives. He repeatedly shared his stance against mail-in ballots, and stated that he would like to encourage a mass opt out of absentee voting.
Incumbent Behm said in his closing statement that now is not the time for on-the-job training. He reminded listeners that he was the only one on stage that had conducted an election and done it securely. He stated that the previous clerk had no election experience, and it showed.
Gillie responded by assuring the crowd that he was very capable of figuring out new processes. He shared that he was already collaborating with two state legislators to begin changing election statutes, although he did not give any specifics.
