3 min read
Uncontested elections are quietly shaping American democracy, but they don’t receive nearly the attention they deserve. A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of participating in a webinar with our friends at BallotReady to discuss the growing problem of uncontested races in American politics. We covered a lot of ground, looking at hard data and BallotReady’s analysis of its implications, but also spotlighting some global political movements that might show us a way forward. Let’s take a closer look at these trends and discover innovative ways to equip citizens in their commitment to democracy, beyond the 2024 elections.
Dive into the entirety of this conversation on our YouTube channel
The problem of uncontested races
Presidential elections like the one in 2024 get a huge amount of attention and energy, as do the races with major national and statewide implications like US Senate and gubernatorial elections. That’s understandable, but it also makes it easy to overlook the fact that there are tens of thousands of down-ballot state and local elections happening at the same time that are every bit as impactful for the day-to-day lives of Americans.
And it doesn’t stop after November 5. There’s no such thing as an off year in politics, and per BallotReady, over 100,000 offices are up for election in 2025 – significantly more than the 80,000 up for election in November 2024. Those offices include city councils, mayors, school boards, township boards, and more – with some elections happening as early as February.
Unfortunately, many of those elections will continue an alarming trend in American politics, because according to a study by BallotReady’s analysis, between 60% and 70% will go uncontested– meaning voters will only have one listed candidate to choose from.
Some more sobering statistics from BallotReady’s analysis of elections from 2020-2023:
- County-level offices go uncontested 58% of the time in counties with a population over 100,000, and 81% of the time in counties with fewer than 100,000 people.
- Over 91% of district attorney positions and 85% of district and circuit court judicial positions went uncontested in 2022.
The implications here are alarming. For a significant majority of elected offices in the United States, voters effectively have no real choice in who represents them. That problem is even more pronounced in less populous – often rural – areas, and especially with offices tied to the justice system.
And while there are some obvious contributing factors – prerequisites like law degrees, lower populations leading to a smaller pool of potential candidates, and lopsided partisan registration advantages – the net impact is that people in those areas are effectively unable to exercise their most fundamental democratic right for many of the offices on the ballot. Voters aren’t even getting the opportunity to compare two competing candidates and decide which one best represents their values and interests.
Rethinking the approach to democracy with lessons from abroad
So other than running for office ourselves, what can we do about this? An emerging phenomenon that has upended the landscape of politics in Australia might point the way.
That phenomenon is Australia's Independent Voice Movement, which has taken shape over the past decade as a new model for political participation at the local level. A Voice group starts with a handful of people within a community who self-organize, usually out of frustration at feeling that their interests are not represented by a longtime incumbent Member of Parliament who faces little serious opposition.
The unusual part: Voice groups don’t begin by looking for a candidate. Instead, the organizers conduct a listening tour in their community, via events they call kitchen table conversations, where they look for themes in what’s important to people. They ask questions like “What’s special about this place?” and “What are the biggest problems to solve in our community?”
The listening tour builds their visibility, allowing them to recruit volunteers and create the infrastructure for long-term viability. Once the tour is done, they share their findings in a public report. Sometimes the results make it clear that their priority should just be continued work in the community, rather than trying to field a candidate.
But if their findings indicate a desire for significant change, the group writes a “job description” for the candidate who will represent them and opens up nominations to the public. Importantly, these groups are not meant as launchpads for their organizers to run, so the process of selecting a candidate is both rigorous and lengthy.
The candidate they select runs with the backing of the group. If they win, they are committed to forming a “two-way compact” with the community, reporting regularly back to the Voice group. Likewise, the group is expected to continue surveying the community and sharing regular feedback with their elected representative over time.
This approach led to some astonishing electoral successes in 2019 and particularly 2022, with the “Teal Independents” (the candidates associated with these community voice groups) now holding 8 of 151 seats in Australia’s parliament. And Independent Voice groups are steadily growing their footprint, now operating in over 20% of Australian federal electorates.
Why has it been so effective? In no small part, it’s because these groups didn’t start with the question, “Who could win this seat?,” but rather first asked, “What problems are not being adequately solved in our community?” That’s an approach that could work anywhere, regardless of location, partisanship, or even electoral systems.
Why does this matter right now?
You might reasonably be asking, “OK, but we’re in the middle of a huge presidential election. Why talk about this now?”
My answer: No matter who wins in November, 100,000 offices are up for election next year (again, some as soon as February!), and some of them will affect your life every bit as profoundly as the person sitting in the White House or in Congress.
And even if you’re happy with your incumbent school board member, district attorney, or county commissioner, you should want them to have to make their case to the public in an election, because it will make them better and more responsive. Public servants aren’t supposed to have unconditional job security.
Most importantly, though: I want you to know that this untenable status quo can change, and that you can play a part in changing it.
So what can I do?
There’s a lot you can do. From lowest-commitment to highest:
- Vote. If nothing else, please, please, please do this. Even if your district is so dominated by one party that your vote won’t make a difference in the high-profile races, there are state and local races and ballot initiatives where even a handful of votes can make all the difference. And you will learn a lot by doing your homework in the process of making up your mind.
- Find a group that’s doing meaningful work in your community to get involved in. The Independent Voice groups are a powerful example, but there may already be a group in your community whose mission and work resonates with you. Your time, effort, or financial support might be transformative for them.
- Start a group of your own. If there isn’t a group yet doing the work to try to understand and solve the big problems in your community, find some like-minded, committed people and start a group yourself. It’s a long-term commitment, but the Australian example shows it can be an enormously impactful one. And whenever you’re ready to make technology a part of your organizing strategy, NationBuilder is here to help.
- Run for office. Sometimes the best leaders and the best candidates are people who’ve never seen themselves as either. It’s hard work to run, and you should go into it understanding what it takes, but solving the problem of uncontested elections requires people to contest them. Why not you?
We don’t have to settle for elections without real choices. Making elections more competitive and more representative starts with building more engaged, more connected communities, and everyone can do something to help make that a reality. It’s up to you to decide what part you want to play.
