An alarming number of candidates run unopposed, especially in state legislatures | Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Ballot Access News, written by Richard Winger, had the following post about when candidates run unopposed across the country, “The Nation Magazine Publishes Article that Publicizes How Many Legislative Races Have Only One Candidate“. Don’t forget to see out Third Party page and our articles on independent candidates. Take a look:

The Nation has this great article by Russell Mokhiber. The article advocates that Nation readers think seriously about running for state legislative seats. To encourage this, the article tells the story of Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins, a 24-year-old Democrat who was elected to the Alaska legislature in 2012, in a district in which the incumbent had run opposed in the past and had been perceived by observers as someone who could not be defeated. The larger point of Mokhiber’s piece is to emphasize how many legislative districts there are with those characteristics around the U.S., and to encourage activists to run to win. A few of the facts in the article originated with data first published in Ballot Access News.

From the Nation Magazine on candidates who run unopposed in Congress:

Name your representatives in your state’s legislature—House and Senate. Don’t know their names? Join the club. In my snap survey of friends, relatives and even political junkies, more than 70 percent couldn’t name both. I’m sure that holds true for Michigan, the United Auto Workers state that last year passed a so-called “right to work” unionbusting law. Watch out for similar legislation coming to a state near you.

According to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, about 33 percent of all state legislative-district elections in 2012 had only one candidate per seat in the race—and Winger says it’s likely that the vast majority of those candidates were incumbents running unopposed. Many of those races can be won with a mere 3,000 to 5,000 votes or so, depending on the year. And yet we sit back, read The Nation, write letters to the editor, sign online petitions and watch C-Span. There is another way.