There’s an electoral inequity that runs deeper in many American communities than how votes are counted or how third parties are maligned. It robs voters of their choice to select local representation in their communities and allows uniparty rule. Voting is essentially made moot in its presence. This inequity is the uncontested race.
The widespread occurrence of one-candidate elections is not heavily publicized due to its local nature but has real consequences for communities. The American Solidarity Party sees local communities as the bedrock of a successful nation, and a lack of electoral competition of ideas and visions at the local level does not bode well for these communities. Even worse than the national political duopoly is local political monopoly where opposition parties do not even bother to put up a candidate.
So is it foolish to spend resources on these seemingly hopeless causes? Not at all! The American Solidarity Party gives politically-homeless voters a voice, and putting up our moderate candidate against the left or right candidate is sufficient to turn heads and start building a winning coalition. When we vote for the ASP’s presidential candidates and support their campaigns, we have no expectation of them actually winning, and that’s okay. It can be a different story in a local election that would otherwise be a single-party affair. Not only can we give voters options at the ballot box, but we can show we care about communities that the big parties have overlooked.
Minor parties like the American Solidarity Party continue to fight for their survival as the political duopoly tightens the electoral noose, increasing filing requirements in many states and banning ranked choice voting, as has been done in my home state of Iowa. According to Ballotpedia News, 84% of Iowa’s 2024 elections were uncontested. What a grave injustice to those who want their votes to make a difference.
We vote for the American Solidarity Party because we want a brighter future away from the political duopoly. We are frustrated when we don’t have candidates we can support on the ballot, but this frustration is shared by many more voters in these uncontested elections. As we continue to fight for national acceptance of ranked-choice voting and mitigating the effects of the “spoiler vote” pejorative term, let’s work to recruit qualified candidates to give voters their choice back.