Local Government Elections - The Great Unopposed

 Copyright 2006 Al Arnold

"My Beat" is Northwestern Wisconsin. I monitor the local government units in an eight county area. Mostly, I am concerned with the actions in the areas of land use, planning, zoning, building, economic development and private property rights.

It is a rural area. How rural is it, you ask? The eight Wisconsin counties of Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Burnett, Sawyer, Washburn, Barron and Rusk encompass 8493 square miles. The total population (2000 census) was 183,382. That works out to 21.60 people per square mile.

The total area of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island is 5890 square miles. Their total population(2000 census) was 4,453,884. That is 756 people per square mile.

That is how rural we are. Forty percent larger than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. With four percent of the population of that area. That's rural.

Would you like some more statistics from "My Beat?"

Nomination Papers were due a couple of weeks ago. Local elections. A couple hundred or so. All County Board of Supervisors, in all eight counties. Numerous Mayors and City Council Seats. There are 218 seats up in all, in this area. (Not counting School Board and Town races. I have no idea how many more hundred of those there are.)

How many of them do you suppose are unopposed? Of the 218 seats, there are 159 of those seats where there is no opposition. The candidate is running unopposed. That is 73% of the seats up for election. Unopposed!

Only 59 seats have competition, for a measly 27%.

Why? Why, so many unopposed races?

* It's not the citizens think their local officials are doing a good job. That's for sure. There is enough complaining going on. On a variety of issues. At Coffee Clubs, neighbors talking, whatever. Complaints can always be heard. So, it's not citizen contentment that drives this problem.

* We have too many races and positions to fill. We don't have enough people per square mile who are really interested in serving on these boards. Let's have larger governmental units and smaller governing boards. Thus, fewer candidates to elect. Let's start some serious consolidation out there!

However, talking with my counterparts across the country, I learn this is not a "rural" problem. High density areas have just as much a problem getting opposition as rural areas do. The number of people in a district is irrelevant. So, that's not the problem.

* Our part time elected officials work for peanuts. They are grossly underpaid for their time and responsibility. But, the same problem of unopposed local officials is also rampant in large population centers, with full time positions. So, it's not money either?

We have a national problem, but without being able to identify just exactly why, it is very difficult to come up with solutions.

But, we do have a problem. Who can defend a system that produces 73% of races being decided, because the name listed on the ballot was better than "nobody."

How do we start solve a problem, when we can't even get to the root cause of it?

About the author:

Al Arnold, Local Politics Pontificator, is the author of Moving Mountains and Molehills Local Politics 101. http://WWW.LocalPolitics101.US

 Al Arnold

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