REASON 8 – It is extremely expensive to conduct a direct primary election campaign in a large voting district. State school board districts represent some 200,000 Utahns. In such large districts, communicating anything but a candidate name to that many voters is prohibitively costly to all but the wealthy elite. We should not adopt direct primary elections because voters should have the opportunity to elect any well-qualified candidate they support, not only members of the wealthy aristocracy or those whom they financially support.  Partisan elections are either far less expensive or they provide a broader base of financial support to candidates.

REASON 9 - Finally, you should support partisan school board elections because I recommend it. Why is my voice is worth listening to? I just finished a four-year term as a member of the Davis School Board. 2015 will be my sixth legislative session serving as a full-time unpaid volunteer citizen lobbyist. I am also finishing my fourth year as an elected member of the Republican State Central Committee. I teach “The History of the Philosophy of Education” at George Wythe University in Salt Lake City. And finally, because I love our constitutional republic, I served over 21 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1997.

Peter Cannon

Farmington, Utah

801-499-9091