Lack of contested legislative races and overflow of ballot questions reflect democracy in decline

Lack of contested legislative races and overflow of ballot questions reflect democracy in decline

IN HIS EXCELLENT report on how the November ballot is taking shape (“Yet again, legislative competition in Massachusetts will be woeful”), Chris Lisinski observes that there will be a record number of initiative petitions before us but few contested races for the state Legislature. I’d suggest that this is less a study in contrasts – many ballot questions, few races – than a snapshot of correlates. When our reps and senators are not challenged a…