Trolling for officeholders: When no one wants the job

What if a city held an election and nobody ran?

For Bob Vande Camp, a supervisor in Amador Township near Taylors Falls, a lack of candidates creates the kind of conundrum most incumbents would love: He's planning to retire but could get reelected anyway, through write-in votes.

His case is relatively rare but far from unheard of. Every election year in Minnesota and across the nation, there are local elections, usually in townships and smaller cities, where no candidates enter the ring. In those situations, departing officials and town clerks beat the bushes to try to find people who'll agree to mount a write-in campaign.

If no one steps up, it comes down to this: After Election Day, municipal officials are required to start calling write-in winners and keep it up until they find someone who will accept the post. If no one does, the town board or city council is charged with finding a resident willing to be appointed to the position.

The number of races without candidates is hard to gauge. This year, there appear to be more than 350 around the state, judging from filings reported to the secretary of state's office. But that number is inflated to an unknown degree, for various reasons. For example, some places were tripped up by the new, earlier state primary date and filing deadlines. So there may be candidates, but they won't be on the ballot. In addition, municipalities don't always provide timely and complete candidate information to the secretary of state's office.

Nationwide, races without candidates are the exception, said Chris Shalby, executive director of the California-based International Institute of Municipal Clerks. "It's more commonplace for several people to run for a vacancy than to have no one run," he said. "You rarely hear that no one files."

He added that remedies are different everywhere, but in some places, the seat remains empty until the next election.

Why not run?

The reasons folks don't throw their hats into the ring probably are as numerous as the examples, said John Aiken, spokesman for the secretary of state.

"Each position is unique unto itself, and the demands on that job will be different in a different township," he said, adding that the issues -- such as growth or lack of development -- in a city could either entice candidates or turn them away.

The offices themselves often aren't glamorous. Demands are high and pay is low, said Sheila Ekstrom, clerk in Dennison, Minn., where two seats on the board of supervisors will be determined by write-in votes in November. The winners will be rewarded with compensation of $50 a month.

Town demographics are changing, too, with the arrival of new residents, unfamiliar with history and issues and thus not having a deep-rooted investment in their communities, said Lin Strong, chairwoman of the Amador Township board of supervisors.

Plus, the old guard is retiring, said Jeremy Gruenhagen, city clerk in Hamburg, which went through the write-in wringer in a mayoral race in 2006. Younger people are overwhelmed with family, work and other obligations and are not willing or able to invest time in city government or community organizations, he said.

Then there's this only-in-Minnesota twist: There are places where an official declaration of candidacy is seen as an act of unseemly pridefulness, said Gene Dufault, special programs coordinator for the Minnesota Association of Townships.

"'Let them put my name down,'" he's heard people say. "'If they think I should do that, then fine, I'll do that, but I'm not going to go out and make them think I think I'm some special person.'"

'Last job is to find somebody'

As far as Minnesota Association of Townships board member Lothar Wolter is concerned, nailing down a successor is part of the job of an elected official, be it in Norwood, where he is clerk, or anyplace else.

"If someone isn't going to file, I tell them, 'You tell someone right away and you find someone to take your place,'" he said. "I always tell them, 'When you quit, your last job is to find somebody.'"

In Amador Township, Vande Camp said he wishes he could make history repeat itself.

"The first time [I ran], somebody called and suggested I file," said Vande Camp, who also served 20 years on the Chisago County Board of Commissioners. "I was undecided, but I filed and I was elected and now nobody has filed. ... I have expressed my stepping down to a number of individuals. They weren't interested."

What will he do if he's the lucky winner?

He's still undecided.

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409