Democracy is easy. All you need for democracy is:

1) Voters

2) Candidates

That’s all, folks.  Voters + Candidates = Democracy. Everything else — political parties, opinion polls, advertising — is froth.

Pretty simple, right? So what is the state of democracy in Maryland, and in the U.S. generally?

We have enough voters to make it work.

Sometimes turnout is disappointingly low in primary elections and special elections. But voters are self-selected. People with a little bit of knowledge or a little bit of interest volunteer to participate in democracy. An appalling minority doesn’t give a darn, and they don’t bother to participate. So what? In Maryland, we have plenty of qualified voters for most elections, especially the big general elections every two years.

But we don’t have an adequate supply of willing candidates.

If you put an ad in the paper for practically any job — school superintendent, city engineer, dishwasher or dog-sitter — you’ll get applications. For a respectable job with a steady paycheck, you could get dozens, or even hundreds of applicants.

So how come so many elections in Maryland are uncontested? Why is it so hard to scrape up even two or three candidates for many elections. It’s not unusual for some important positions, especially  state senator and delegate to the General Assembly, to attract only a single candidate for each position.

I guess there are lots of reasons why people are reluctant to spend their time in public service. Mostly, it’s hard and thankless work. People are busy up to here with family and job responsibilities. Who has the time? Or the worrisome question, how many people are interested enough to care?

This is the last week of the candidate filing season for the 2010 elections in Maryland. Deadline is next Tuesday, July 6. Yeah, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes buzzing going on this week.

Almost any citizen can run. You and I and all registered voters over 21 are qualified for most offices. But in the end, the list will probably be dominated by the same old, tired names and faces. Just a hunch.

A week from now, we’ll know what the match-ups are going to be, all across Maryland.

– John Hayden