Yes, the ballot you will see this November is as long as any has ever been. But let’s not lose perspective.
If it seems like that Harris County ballot you got in the mail is long, it is. Veteran election watchers say it is the longest they can recall.
The ballot is so long that it requires 61 cents to mail in your vote. Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerry Birnberg joked, “We’re real close to a poll tax here.”
Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman recently gave a vivid demonstration of the daunting list voters face Nov. 2 by unfolding a ballot that extended to nearly her height.
[…]
There are several reasons for the lengthy ballot.
First among them is that all the judicial seats, with the exception of a few justices of the peace, are contested.
“Before 2008, there were a lot of folks who did not believe Democrats could win countywide elections in Harris County,” Birnberg said. Emboldened by the party’s success in winning most judicial seats two years ago, Democrats are challenging the remaining Republican incumbents, Birnberg said.
Give or take an unexpired term or two and a charter referendum or three, the actual number of races is the same as it was in 2006 and 2002 and pretty much every non-Presidential year you’re likely to remember. The difference is the number of contested races. By my count, in 2006 there were 56 Republican judges who did not have a challenger; in 2002, 30 Republican judges, plus then-District Clerk Charles Bacarisse got off opponent-free. (County Clerk Beverly Kaufman had only a Libertarian opponent in 2002.) The number of races was about the same, it’s just that the number of races in which you have a choice to make is much larger this year. Why that’s being characterized as some kind of burden and not as a good thing for democracy is unclear to me. PDiddie has more.
By the way, the early voting locations and schedules are now up. It’ll be interesting to see what the volume is for early voting, and it will be difficult to project final turnout based on early voting volume, since this year will likely be heavier than usual due to the fire. But that won’t stop anyone from guessing, least of all me.