Sixty-five percent of July’s elections were uncontested

Welcome to the Thursday, Aug. 1, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Sixty-five percent of July’s elections were uncontested
2. Today marks 52 years since Kansas voters removed a ban on dueling and holding elected office
3. Ballotpedia tracks record number of recall elections in first half of 2024 – this and more in today’s episode of On the Ballot

Sixty-five percent of July’s elections were uncontested

Throughout July, Ballotpedia covered 525 elections in 11 states, 65% of which were uncontested.

This brings the year-to-date rate of uncontested elections to 73%. For comparison, since 2018, each year has had more uncontested than contested elections except for one. In 2021, 50.4% of the elections we covered were contested. Each month we publish an article detailing the number and percentage of uncontested races in the previous month.

Understanding the data and its implications

An uncontested election is one where the number of candidates running is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election. Our analysis does not account for write-in candidates.

Why are so many elections uncontested and what does this mean for the democratic process?

Looking at local elections only, CivicPulse suggests the following reasons for declining competition:

• low voter turnout;
• a decline in local news and professional reporting;
• off-cycle election scheduling meant to capitalize on lower voter turnout; and
• partisan strongholds that dissuade opposite-party challengers.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune‘s Regina Mack, Democratic strategist Harold Cook gave three reasons for the large number of uncontested elections at the state and federal levels: “The incumbent is so popular that no one else can find a path to victory. The district is so tilted in favor of the other party that nobody in the opposing party can find a path to victory. The incumbent’s campaign has so much money that nobody can figure out how to overcome their ability to communicate with voters.”

Illinois Policy’s Orphe Divounguy and Jon Josko explain why high uncontested rates stifle the democratic process: “The lack of candidate alternatives on the ballot reduces voter participation. … as the number of candidates on a ballot increases, electoral participation also increases. … Voters benefit from having clearly differentiated options at the polls on election day, and having a choice in their elected officials gives them a reason to turn out to the polls. … Uncontested and lightly contested elections tend to skew policy in favor of powerful special interest groups at the expense of everyone else. This is because low voter participation makes legislators more susceptible to the influence of lobbyists rather than prioritizing the service of ordinary voters.”

Diving back into the data

As previously mentioned, 65% of elections in July were uncontested. That’s down from June when 76% of the 5,072 covered elections were uncontested.

Ninety-three percent of the elections we covered in July were in Arizona. Of the 488 elections covered in the state, 317 (65%) were uncontested.

July’s rate of uncontested elections was greater than the 58% average rate identified between 2018 and 2023.

Local judicial elections are the least competitive so far. We have covered 2,242 such elections so far this year. Eighty-six percent (1,928) of those elections were uncontested.

And that trend is likely to continue throughout the year. While we are still gathering candidate information for upcoming elections, based on the data available today, we will cover 3,678 local judicial elections by the end of the year. Eighty-nine percent (3,263) of those elections were or will be uncontested.

Click on the link below to learn more about uncontested elections nationwide last month and in all previous months through 2024.

Today marks 52 years since Kansas voters removed a ban on dueling and holding elected office

Ballotpedia’s Historic Ballot Measures Fact Book documents nearly 200 years of direct democracy in the United States. This ongoing research effort will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers, reporters, and the public on how ballot measures have evolved, the issues they’ve covered, and their role in our civic life.

ICYMI, yesterday we published our first state Fact Book, focusing on Texas and the 708 constitutional amendments that have appeared on the ballot since 1879.

Today, let’s take a look at Kansas Question 1, Repeal Ban on Dueling and Elected Office Amendment, which voters approved 65.86%-34.14% on Aug. 1, 1972. The state legislature referred the constitutional amendment to the ballot. The proposition asked voters to vote yes or no on the following:

• “The Constitution of the State of Kansas shall be amended by repealing section 5 of article 5 thereof, which relates to giving or accepting a challenge to fight a duel and makes persons who do so ineligible for certain offices.”

Dueling was a way to defend honor and settle differences, particularly political differences. The duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr was one such famous political duel. Dueling was prominent enough that insults to one’s honor and subsequent challenges to duel were often published in newspapers.

The practice eventually fell out of favor. According to PBS, “Although 18 states had outlawed dueling by 1859, it was still often practiced in the South and the West. Dueling became less common in the years following the Civil War, with the collective public opinion perhaps soured by the amount of bloodshed during the conflict. By the start of the 20th century, dueling laws were enforced and it became a thing of the past.”

Duels are such a thing of the past that Kansas and five other states have turned to ballot measures to remove dueling-related bans from their constitutions. The other five states are California, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Voters in all six states approved the ballot measures.

Voters approved the first of these measures in California in 1970. The most recent voter-approved measure was in Iowa in 1992.

Seven states—Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia—have dueling-related bans in their constitutions.

Jumping back to Aug. 1, 1972, Kansas voters approved an additional four ballot measures that day. The legislature referred all four to the ballot.

• Kansas Welfare, Amendment 2 was an amendment for the state to provide for and fund benevolent institutions, the elderly, the infirm, and the unemployed.
• Kansas State Aid in Farm Home Purchases, Amendment 3 was an amendment that repealed state aid in the purchase of farm homes.
• Kansas Census, Amendment 4 was an amendment that repealed the law requiring a state census.
• Kansas Legislative Apportionment, Amendment 5 was an amendment that repealed the section of the constitution on apportionment.

We hope you enjoyed this step back in time! But if you’re more interested in the here and now, we have you covered: check out our coverage of 2024 ballot measures here.

Ballotpedia tracks record number of recall elections in first half of 2024 – this and more in today’s episode of On the Ballot

On today’s episode of On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast, Ballotpedia Editor-in-Chief Geoff Pallay interviews Ballotpedia Staff Writer Abbey Smith about the record number of election recalls in the first half of 2024.

At the end of June, Ballotpedia tracked more recall attempts against officials (266 officials) and successful recall elections (38 officials) than any previous year. Pallay and Smith discuss perhaps the most significant recall attempt this year—that of Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos (R)—as well as the recall attempts against D.C. council members Charles Allen (D) and Brianne Nadeau (D) and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price (nonpartisan).

They also define what exactly a recall is and what type of offices and which states have the most recalls. They then explore the reasons behind the record number of recalls, characteristics of successful recalls, and whether the high number of recalls is here to stay or simply a fluke.

Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app to learn more about the record number of recalls! If you want to dig even deeper, explore our mid-year recall report here. This episode will drop on Thursday morning.