By Bob Richard

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Writing in the August 29 Marin Independent Journal, columnist Dick Spotswood notes that November's city council elections in three Marin cities are uncontested. Spotswood's commentary begins, "Noncompetitive municipal elections are a sad symptom of any community's poor civic health."

Read the whole column here.

In San Rafael, Corte Madera and Larkspur, all of the incumbents are running unopposed for reelection. The same is true of the San Rafael school board election. Spotswood points out that, even though incumbents may be well-qualified and popular, the lack of a contest does not mean that issues don't need to be debated.

In Larkspur, for example, the absence of opposing candidates certainly cannot be attributed to the absence of any issue on which voters have strong--and conflicting--opinions. The Central Larkspur Area Specific Plan (CLASP) is nothing if not controversial.

There can be many reasons why local elections are uncontested. Satisfaction with the incumbents is sometimes one of them. (Spotswood is very careful to praise the current incumbents for their competence.)

The other reasons include the winner-take-all structure of our elections. It is well documented that voter turnout improves when ranked voting methods are adopted. There is less research data available on candidate turnout, but it stands to reason that it would improve as well.

Our at-large city council elections, where several seats are filled at once, are decided by plurality voting rules. A single dominant slate or point of view often wins all of the seats. That's why political scientists call this system "block voting".

But in a ranked voting election to fill three seats, for example, a candidate can win with the support of 25 per cent of voters, plus one vote. This percentage can (and generally does) include second and third-place votes.

When more candidates have a realistic chance to win, more candidates will enter the race. Issues and positions are debated more fully. Public dialog reflects more points of view. And more voters are satisfied with the representation they receive. All of which contributes to the civic health about which we--and Dick Spotswood--are so concerned.

Bob Richard is Marin County Coordinator for Californians for Electoral Reform.