Where are all the candidates for state races?

by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, published in The Greenville Daily Reflector, December 22, 2015.

When General Assembly Republicans moved the 2016 primaries up to March, Democrats complained that it wouldn’t leave potential candidates enough time to organize campaigns and, as a result, they would decide against running for election.

And that would leave the state’s two main political parties without candidates in some General Assembly districts — and, more importantly, voters without choices at election time.

As the candidate filing period neared its end last week, it wasn’t just Democrats scrambling to find candidates to run for the state legislature in the new year. Late last week, the N.C. Republican Party sent out a mass email with the subject line: “Needed: A Few Good Republicans.”

“Needed: A Few Dozen Good Republicans” would have been a more accurate subject line. As of the end of the day Friday, with only half a day Monday remaining in the filing period, 37 of 120 House districts and 10 of 50 Senate districts didn’t have Republican candidates.

The Democrats might have sent out an email with a similar subject line. As of Friday, there was no Democratic candidate in 17 Senate districts and 47 House districts.

Barring a last-minute rush of candidates, hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of N.C. voters face the prospect of finding only one General Assembly candidate on their ballots come November. How’s that for voter choice and democracy?

In my opinion, this is nothing less than a blistering indictment of the two major political parties, our state political system in general and our redistricting process in particular. Clearly, something is gravely wrong when a state with roughly 10 million people can’t even field two candidates in every House and Senate district.

Are people so fed up with politics and politicians that they want nothing to do with it? Are the parties so out of touch that they can’t find people to run? Are legislative sessions too long, keeping lawmakers away from their families and jobs for too much of the year? Is the pay too low? Do campaigns cost too much? Are many of the districts so gerrymandered in one party’s favor that it’s impossible for a candidate of the other party to win? Should unaffiliated candidates be able to get on the ballot without having to get thousands of signatures?

Is something else keeping potential public servants away with 10-foot poles?

These are all questions that need answers.

And fast. Another election will come and go before we know it.

Patrick Gannon writes about North Carolina Government and politics for the Capitol Press Association.

http://www.reflector.com/opinion/other-voices/gannon-where-are-all-candidates-state-races-3097671