Idaho finished picking candidates for the Presidential election last week. Now politics watchers are turning their eyes to the state’s May 17 primary election.
The filing deadline for candidates for the Idaho Legislature came and went two weeks ago.
Gary Moncrief is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Boise State, and studies legislatures across the country. Moncrief is the co-author the book “Why States Matter.”
He’s been breaking down the campaign filings and found there are several races that aren’t races at all. Moncrief says 43 percent of the Idaho Senators in the Legislature don’t have any competition, in either the primary, or the general election. He says basically, they’ve already been elected, without any votes.
“That’s extraordinary. And really says something about the lack of accountability, electoral accountability, at this level of governance in the United States,” says Moncrief.
Moncrief says nationwide there are a lot of uncontested, general-election races for state legislatures. On average, 35 to 40 percent of the seats are not being contested.
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