What If They Held An Election and Nobody Came?

With a little more than a month to go until town elections, excitement is building and residents can barely contain themselves over the hotly contested races. Candidate signs are popping up all over and ads are filling the local newspapers. The candidate debates are going to be incredibly exciting..........What's that? Oh, sorry, wrong town. This is North Reading I am talking about. North Reading, where there has not been a contested school committee seat in at least the last 10 years. North Reading where this year there are 8 positions open and not one contested race. North Reading where only 30 percent of registered voters turned out at the special town election to vote on additional funds for the high school/middle school building project.

Approximately 15,000 people live in this great town. Of that number, nearly 11,000 are eligible to vote, meaning they are eligible to run for town office. Yet, like a needle stuck in a record, year after year there are few contested races for town offices.

I would like to think the reason we have so few contested elections is that everyone who holds town office is perfect and therefore no one should run against them. After all, we are doing an incredible job and there are no issues in the town, right? Of course, this is preposterous. There are plenty of issues the town has to tackle and there should be plenty of individuals who want to run for town office and help solve these problems. None of us who hold office are perfect -- not even close -- and we should be challenged on a regular basis. But alas, the challenge goes unanswered.

It also would be easy to label everyone in town as apathetic, but that is not fair. Clearly, serving on a town committee requires time and commitment, and it definitely is not easy. And, it is understandable that many who live in this town are too busy to make the required commitment. But of the nearly 11,000 who are eligible, there has to be one or two who have the time and interest to run for office, and if elected to work to make North Reading a better place.  

April 30 will be the fourth time I will be on the ballot for school committee, and it will also be the fourth time no one has run against me. In my nine years serving on the committee, there has not been a contested race, and I know that before my time there were at least a couple of years where incumbents went unchallenged. Recently, we have had a hard time finding someone to run for the committee when an incumbent has decided to step down. With almost 11,000 residents eligible to run, this should not be happening.

I know North Reading is not the only town to experience the phenomena of uncontested races, but that does not make it acceptable. And, it is difficult to comprehend the fact that on this year's town ballot every candidate is unopposed. It probably has happened before, but I cannot remember it.

Our democratic system is great. Anyone who is eligible can vote or run for public office. Anyone who wants to can stand up and work to make a difference in their community, state or the country. But few if any are standing up. Few if any are making the commitment. 

The next time a town election comes around, seriously consider running for selectmen or school committee or the CPC or the housing authority. Or, put yourself in the mix to be appointed to one of the numerous other committees in town.

The system doesn't work if no one participates.