Perhaps the most notable aspect of upcoming elections is the lack of contested races.
Tuesday's filing deadline for state and county offices produced three races for the 10 county offices to be decided in November. Among area districts for state representatives, five of nine seats are unopposed.
Although contests loom in two state Senate districts in Central Missouri, the incumbent Republican state auditor drew no Democratic opposition.
And, in Jefferson City's municipal election on April 8, only one of five council seats is contested.
Despite calls from rankled residents to "vote 'em out," that's a problem if no one wants in.
Are we experiencing an increasing dearth of candidates and, if so, what are the reasons?
Possible reasons include:
• Money - The cost of campaigns continues to inflate. And the higher the office, the greater the costs. Would-be candidates must consider affordability and whether they are comfortable soliciting donations.
• Apathy - A segment of society is not interested in politics or playing any role in the public arena.
• Powerlessness - Beyond apathy is a sense no single person can make a difference in changing the massive bureaucracy of government.
• Disgust - An aversion to any association with government, because it is perceived as vile and corrupt.
• All or some combination of the above.
On the federal level, public perceptions of elected officials are provided by approval ratings. Those ratings are not encouraging; recent Gallup poll results show President Obama's approval rating at 44 percent and the rating for Congress at a dismal 15 percent.
Elections ideally are about win-win choices - choosing the best from among a field of capable candidates.
Fewer candidates means fewer choices or - as we now are experiencing - no choice.
This trend is detrimental to representative government and difficult to reverse.