70% of races on the ballot this November are uncontested, up from 2020
According to our research, the rate of uncontested races is higher in 2024 than in previous cycles across all levels of government.
Introduction
For the first time since publishing our research on the topic of uncontested races in America, we are offering a preview of positions on the ballot this November featuring only one candidate as opposed to our usual retroactive analysis. For background on this topic, please refer to our 2023 analysis or recent features in the New York Times and with NPR.
In this analysis, you will see both the extent of the problem on this year’s ballot compared to years previous as well as access multiple samples of uncontested positions in this year ballot, including the full list in Florida and Texas.
Of course, voters won’t need to read this article to identify the problem– millions of Americans are experiencing the lack of choice firsthand at the ballot box as they scroll past pages and pages of uncontested races as they go to cast their vote.
70% of positions on the November ballots are uncontested, up from 2020
The most concerning trend in our research on 2024 uncontested races is the noticeable increase in the rate of uncontested races across all levels of government as compared to the 2020, 2022 and 2023 cycles.
Over 5% of races for Congress this November are uncontested, marking the highest rate of uncontested federal elections in the past four cycles. The same is true for state level races with nearly 48% going uncontested this year compared to 41% in 2020.
What appears to be an increase in uncontested races at the regional, county and local levels likely can be attributed in part thanks to BallotReady’s deliberate effort to expand coverage for more local races in more parts of the country.
Ultimately, however, this shows that the lack of contested races on the ballot is an even more significant problem than our previous research has demonstrated.
Uncontested races are a problem at every level of government
As mentioned earlier, according to our research almost every level of government is seeing an increase in the rate of uncontested races this cycle.
Nonetheless, the problem is significantly most pronounced in our local governments. An astounding 90% of regional races (positions like district attorney), and 74% of local races (local township and school board seats) feature only one or no candidate to voters this cycle.