Local opinion: Arizona voters elect too many officials

We’ve gone overboard on democracy.

Yes, of course I support representative government. Of course I support a government that’s accountable to the people. Of course I support voting rights for all adults. Heck, I fought against attempts to undermine this process.

I'm not advocating for the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment (although if you're up for it…). And I'm not advocating for unelected philosopher kings (but if we had to have them, I’d choose Bob Robb (formerly of this paper), Tim Sandefur (Goldwater Institute) and Clint Bolick (Arizona Supreme Court)).

But do we really need to vote on 80 items every November? Do we really need an elected mine inspector, an elected clerk of the county court and, dare I say it, an elected county recorder?

Maricopa County recently announced it will need only one page (front and back) to fit all the races for the upcoming election. Not two pages like 2024. Yippee? But that really just means that one or two citizen initiatives failed to collect the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot.

If you're reading this, you're more politically informed than 90% of the state. But can you name your three state legislators? Probably not. Can you name the two candidates for state treasurer? Almost certainly not. Did you know that our current mine inspector is appointed? Did you care? And don’t get me started on the judges.

This isn't to shame you. Again, you're part of the informational elite (and, incidentally, thank you for subscribing to The Arizona Republic!). According to one commonly-cited study, only 19% of Americans can name their state senator, and only 38% of respondents know whether their state has its own constitution. A more recent study found that fewer than 8% of American respondents can correctly identify their local elected official from a list of five names. It’s part of the reason why big egos at the state legislature are absurd ― nobody knows who they are!

This ignorance isn't because Arizonans or Americans are stupid (some exceptions do apply). Meeting every candidate on the ballot, or doing deep research, would take weeks of preparation. Arizonans are too busy growing our economy, educating our kids or watching the Diamondbacks hold on to the last wild-card spot. Economist Anthony Downs called this "rational ignorance."

We have limited time for politics. We shouldn't have to spread that finite time across 80 different races. And under present circumstances, can we really hold politicians accountable when we can't even name them or what they do? Probably not. But isn't that the goal of representative government?

The harm of excessive democracy doesn't end there. When voters don't have time to research, they resort to tribal indicators: Republican or Democrat. That deepens our already extreme partisanship. Or, even worse, busy voters rely on 30-second television commercials that grossly simplify complex people and political issues. A text message screaming that "Candidate Jane hates public schools!" works because the voter doesn't have time to research that Jane has a nuanced opinion on public school reform. Our politics has become louder and uglier because that’s what captures our scarce attention.

Long ballots also have the ironic effect of reducing voter turnout. Texas A&M political scientist Chenoa Yorgason found that young voters and less-educated voters are especially likely to be overwhelmed by a long ballot and not even start the process. How's that for democracy?

So what does this translate to for Arizona? First, let's begin by firing all of my county friends: county recorders, county assessors, county treasurers, county clerks, county sheriffs, county attorneys and county superintendents. Those should all be appointed by an elected board of supervisors.

You might shout, "How am I supposed to hold the sheriff accountable if he’s not elected?!" But an election isn't needed. Sometimes it might even be an impediment or a delay. Phoenix residents held our police chief accountable without any election. Similarly, voters in Surprise prompted the city's police to quickly drop Flock cameras. Surprise doesn’t have an elected police chief.

Then let's get rid of some statewide offices. Secretary of State? Thanks for your service, Adrian (Fontes), but you're out. Pennsylvania seemingly manages just fine with a secretary appointed by the governor. And yes, of course our mine inspector, treasurer and state superintendent are gone in this plan. We don’t elect the director of the Arizona Department of Transportation; why do we elect the mine inspector? It's arbitrary and puts the decision in the hands of low-information voters.

I could go on cutting, but I don't want to lose your attention (see what I did there?). The resulting ballot would be a limited number of candidates (governor, state legislature, county supervisors and city councilmembers). Then you could actually research that limited pool. And those candidates could get your attention without resorting to desperate means.

Then you'd know whom to hold accountable. Something election-administration related? No more worrying about whether it's the recorder or the supervisors. Did the jails have a problem? No more wondering whether it's an incompetent sheriff or whether the supervisors underfunded the jail.

We'd move from a theory of accountable government to actual accountability.

But if democratic accountability doesn't convince you, consider this: if we have fewer elected officials, it means fewer fundraising text messages, fewer campaign street signs and fewer political commercials on TV. Hopefully we can all agree that would make the world better.