Over the last few months, our Crowdsourcing the 50 State Strategy has attracted quite a bit of response. While this diary is not directly part of that series, one of the responses we received was so stunning that since receiving it I have thought about the broad implications it poses for the state of America as a representative republic.
Our friends at Ballotpedia have forwarded us data in regards to filing for state legislatures, and the information disclosed should scare both parties as to what kind of future we are developing.
Pennsylvania just filed and it was the 9th filing deadline (out of 86 chambers with elections in 2016). See below. It looks like, with 9 states under our belt, the % so far of seats that will uncontested in 2016 in the general (by two major party opponents) is 50%. In 2010, it was 32.7% In 2012, it was 38.3% In 2014, it was 43% I.e.: Less major party opposition every year.One of the axioms Democrats tell themselves is that we turn out in a presidential year. And while voters may, what isn’t happening is the candidates who need their votes. Without candidates on the ballots, more and more Americans now have absolutely no option in choosing who will represent them in their own state house, where laws about civil rights, taxes, education and environmental policy may be decided. With 9 states passing the filing deadline, nearly 50% of races in America will have no challenger, none, at all.