More Than Half of Contra Costa Elections Are Uncontested. That's a Problem.

One of the primary motivations behind OpGov.News was the significant disconnect we observed between community members and their understanding of civic duties.

Elections happen every two years for a reason — they give community members a chance to voice their opinion.

Now that the filing deadline has passed, even after the extension, what we found is striking: as a community, we have no real choice in more than half of our elections.

54.22% of races in Contra Costa County are going unchallenged.

Here is the list of these positions.

Credit : Chirag Kathrani

Civic education is in significant decline — and this is the cost of that.

Speaking of cost: what does it actually take to run? Setting aside campaign expenses, most of these elections have absolutely zero filing fees.

Last year, based on my analysis of local elections, I created a video highlighting how voter participation drops sharply when races go unchallenged.

Credit : Chirag Kathrani.

This year, ahead of the elections, we ran a leadership program where two elected officials shared with community members how they won their own council seats — with less than $5,000.

We will be interviewing every candidate in the Tri-Valley area and are in the process of hosting forums wherever possible.

If you are a candidate and our team hasn't reached you yet, please feel free to email me at chirag@lead4earth.org.

Let's make sure no election goes unchallenged in our community.

Also drop it in the comments, will respond to all comments.