The day The Sacramento Bee reported that no candidates had filed to run in more than a dozen local elections, would-be candidates flooded the Sacramento County elections office with calls. "What can I run for?" they wanted to know.
It's hard to know what's more alarming – no candidate running or a candidate who decides to run for an office, any office, because no one else does.
The real issue here is not a shortage of candidates but too many elected offices. Even the most conscientious voter cannot possibly know all the candidates running or the issues facing – to cite only a few examples – the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, or the Galt Irrigation District or the Fulton El Camino Park and Recreation District.
There is a solution to the candidate shortage. Cut the number of elected offices. Let county supervisors appoint some boards instead.
We are not arguing for an end to democracy. Voters should always decide who holds some offices – school boards, for example.
But it makes sense for supervisors to appoint boards for local districts that voters are unlikely to know much about – water, fire, irrigation and park and recreation districts.
Yes, these boards perform important functions and spend significant amounts of public money. But unlike school boards, they operate largely outside the view of voters. County supervisors, with the assistance of a professional staff, are in a better position to vet candidates for these boards than most voters are.
Reducing the number of elected officeholders would help alleviate voter fatigue. Consider this November's ballot. Besides choosing a president, vice president, Congress, state Senate and Assembly, voters will be asked to weigh in on at least 12 statewide ballot propositions. Depending on where they live, voters will elect city councils and school boards and decide local ballot measures as well. Do voters really have the time to figure out who should sit on the local water board, too?
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