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Show Can honored by ULWV as election reform pioneer BOUNTIFUL Election reform pioneer, Vemon B. Can, was recently presented the "Citizen Advocate Award" by the Utah League of Women Voters. Can was praised prais-ed for his continuing continu-ing efforts in making mak-ing reforms in election legislation. legisla-tion. One of his most important accomplishments was his success in getting the Utah variety of committees to update Utah's election laws for over 30 years. His efforts have been so successful suc-cessful he has been nicknamed "Mr. Election" on Capitol Hill. His involvement in election reform came naturally. Can Printing, for which he served as chairman of the board for 20 years, handles the entire election process for 28 of the 29 counties in Utah. This heavy involvement in-volvement in Utah's elections naturally nat-urally led to ideas for change and improvement. im-provement. One of these improvements was establishing es-tablishing a common date for filing deadline across the state, a change introduced in-troduced by Can. Another major change requires that a filing officer refuse the filing form of anyone who cannot prove he meets the qualifications for the elected office of-fice for which he is filing. "This has cut down dramatically on erroneous filings, and has cut down on the paperwork, and the time of county employees," said Can. Can graduated from Davis High School in 1935 and has been involved in public service since that time. He served as Centerville Mayor for eight years, and many years on the South Davis Sewer District Board. "I added it up once, and when I counted all of the committees I served on simultaneously I had a total of 135 years of public service," said Can. That service is continuing. Can is still sought after as an election expert across the state. Legislators and lobbyists contact him regularly for his expertise. He stepped down in 1990 as chairman of the board for Can Printing, giving him even more time to spend "whipping Utah's election laws into shape. ' ' Can said he plans to continue his efforts in "championing the needs of election legislators." voting age VERNONBCARR lowered to 18. "This came about in the early '50s," Can said. "I had some of the young serviceman in Korea say to me, 'If I'm old enough to fight I'm old enough to vote. I decided they were right and I went to work to try and get the age lowered" Can has continued to serve on a |