Where have all the candidates gone?

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Increasingly, Minnesota voters are encountering ballots with too-few options. They're used to seeing only one candidate in judicial races. Still, there's a bigger problem with a lack of quality competition — or no competition at all — in a growing number of local contests.

The number of uncontested races has gone up, meaning that the electorate has less say in representation. In many cases, the decisions made by political parties and insiders lead to fewer choices. And some would-be candidates have been scared away by divisiveness and what they see as thankless work.

That's not good for voters, for candidates, or for governing bodies such as school and county boards, city councils and the Legislature. Elected bodies need members who are more representative of the variety of people that they serve. And they need members with a range of skills, professional backgrounds and abilities to oversee taxpayer dollars and public policy.

Five of nine seats were open in this year's Minneapolis school board elections, and all went to newcomers with little experience. Of the five, two ran unopposed.

In Ramsey County, both the sheriff and county attorney ran without opposition. And in rural and metro areas, voters in 24 races had just one candidate for a state House or Senate seat. So of the 201 seats in the Legislature, candidates in just under one in eight races were unopposed.

So why is this happening, and can anything be done about it? According to some party leaders and analysts, the nasty, contentious political environment and late legislative redistricting hindered candidate recruitment in House and Senate races. And the window for campaigning was shorter than usual.

Political expert Larry Jacobs from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School told a Star Tribune reporter that politics has become an often "horrible process: horrible for the candidates, horrible for their families. It's gotten more and more brutal."

Earlier this month, in an interview with an editorial writer, Jacobs said some of that can be changed by the voting public. "Voters need to demand vastly more coverage of public policy issues. We need to place more value on that," as well as more face-to-face debates and other forums with candidates.

Before the Nov. 8 election, the Star Tribune Editorial Board made a similar case in arguing for higher-quality campaigns. Having more quality candidates willing to run for public office is also critical.

"The polarization in politics generally has made it harder to get people who aren't [already] involved in politics interested in running," Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota DFL, told the Star Tribune. "Given how toxic the environment has become, it's very difficult to convince people to give up a job that pays them more to become a member of the Legislature."