Better Candidates

By Mina Joanna Nichols

If you don't vote June 3rd you are sending the message that you're OK with having no choice in 8 out of 10 county races.

In Ventura county this year 8 out of 10 county wide offices are uncontested.

You have no choice for county sheriff, district attorney, tax collector, auditor-controller and two supervisors are running unopposed, which means only one of our five county supervisors will be duly elected in the new term. The incumbent assessor is running for his fifth term.

That's not Democracy.

There's something very wrong with this picture, and I am the person best situated to do something about it.

The recorder's office doesn't set election law, but they implement it. They have a great deal of control over how hard it is to run for office and they have a degree of responsibility for providing candidate information and engaging the public.

As your county recorder I will energetically search out ways to improve voter participation and help everyone feel better represented.

I want to reduce the institutional barriers to candidacy, and help voters know their choices. Voters should be given as much information as possible in the fairest way possible.

I can't fix Citizens United or end corruption for you, but I can get in here and help pry the door open for other candidates, and that's what I intend to do.

I won't just work for the people who see things my way, but also for those who don't. I want every faction to have a credible representative that can help the rest of us understand the issues dear to that group.

We need everyone to feel represented so that we can find answers that work for everyone.

I see this as the most important contribution I can make to saving Democracy and I intend to give it all I can.