By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sharonville Mayor Virgil Lovitt II places a campaign sign in front of a business near the intersection of Chester and Kemper roads. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

When Paul Bauer walks into a Sharonville voting booth on Election Day, he knows it won't take long to decide how to vote for mayor or city council.

He doesn't have a choice.

"It's frustrating," says Bauer, 61. Republicans have run unopposed for Sharonville council and the mayor's office for most of the 40 years Bauer has lived in the Hamilton County suburb.

Sharonville isn't alone. In many Southwestern Ohio suburbs and rural communities, democracy comes on a ballot with limited options.

Some 192 offices - nearly half of the races in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties - are uncontested this year. There is no opposition for city councils in Springdale, Silverton, Sharonville, Montgomery, Mariemont, Mount Healthy, Wyoming and Amberley Village.

In Northern Kentucky, voters will decide only a handful of local races in Kenton, Boone and Campbell counties along with this November's governor's race. Among them, elections for seats on the Crescent Springs and Park Hills city councils are uncontested, too.

The number of uncontested races has increased slightly in Hamilton County from two years ago, but remains about constant in Butler, Clermont and Warren counties, election officials say.

ELECTION GUIDE

Election Guide 2003 Cincinnati.com provides an early look at the Nov. 4 vote with help on getting you registered, lists of area candidates and the latest campaign news. And there's more to come, including candidate profiles - as we get closer to Election Day.

Voters, campaigners and officeholders give lots of reasons: Voters are content with incumbents and the way things are. Campaigning takes too much time and money. Most people are too busy with families, jobs and everyday life. Holding office is a thankless job and a lot of work.

The lack of choice helps explain a steady decline in voting during the municipal, township and school board elections in years that have no presidential, gubernatorial or other major races. Hamilton County turnout has dropped from 51 percent a decade ago to 37 percent in 2001. Clermont County registered a record low 26 percent turnout for a November election two years ago, while Butler County hit bottom with 29 percent in 1999.

"I think people just say: There's only one candidate on the ballot, so why bother to go out and vote?" says Kathy Jones, deputy director of the Clermont County Board of Elections in Batavia. "People have just lost interest, and lost faith in the political system."

"It takes a lot of commitment to run for office, and it's a lot of work when you win," adds Jane Anderson, a former Cincinnati City Council candidate who teaches politics at the University of Cincinnati. "Many of these positions are poorly compensated, so most people decide to let someone else do it."

Bill Niehaus, running unopposed for re-election to Montgomery City Council, laments the lack of interest "in attending council meetings or running for office." Only "a handful of people at most" show up for council sessions, says Niehaus, a council member since 1996.

In the rapidly growing Lakota Local School District, school board members are running unopposed for the first time in 12 years. But Daniel Warncke, an incumbent seeking re-election, sees this as a sign of parents' satisfaction - not indifference - in the state's eighth-largest school district. Two years ago, six people campaigned for three seats.

"I don't see any apathy. I just think people are happy the way things are going here," Warncke says. "If there were concerns about the schools, a lot of people would be running."

Virgil Lovitt II, Sharonville mayor since 1997, says his all-Republican council "works hard to try to figure out what the (residents') needs are, and address them. I believe the people are happy."

One satisfied Sharonville voter is Lori Webb, a 30-year resident not upset about having no council choices.

"I don't mind, because the people on council are doing a good job. I see them at all the events in town, and I can talk to them one-on-one, or I e-mail them through the city's Web site," Webb says.

The field of suburban candidates also has become smaller in recent years because parents are spending so much time with their kids' sports and school activities, says Lovitt, a father of three, and Niehaus, a retiree with six grown children and 13 grandchildren,

"There are only so many nights in a week, and people are out coaching soccer and baseball, and the two parents are working. It can be hectic," says Lovitt, who will campaign with only a dozen yard signs this fall, instead of more than 100 used in a contested suburban election.

Why bother to campaign? "By not campaigning at all, it lends to a sense of arrogance that I'm not accountable to the voters," Lovitt says.

Although suburban residents may be too busy to run for elected office, most "are not too busy to get involved with issues they care about, which is evidenced by surrounding communities," Lovitt says.

In neighboring Evendale, where redevelopment along Reading Road and the hiring of former Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach have been hot topics, there are two candidates for mayor, and seven for three village council seats. Development issues - and a strong local, two-party system - also have filled the Norwood ballot with two candidates for each race.

Party politics - or the lack of an organized party in communities with nonpartisan races - also contributes to the shortage of suburban candidates. The Republican majority in Blue Ash and Sharonville, and Democratic domination in North College Hill, make it difficult for the opposition party or independents to win.

"Every time a Democrat would run in Sharonville, we'd cream them," says Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin, a former Sharonville mayor (1964-90).

The absence of political parties in nonpartisan communities like Montgomery or Wyoming means no organization encourages residents to seek elected office.

"If we allowed the candidates to run on a Democratic or Republican ticket, you'd almost always have opposition," says Niehaus, whose father was mayor eight years in Deer Park, which has partisan elections. "The two-party system brings out more candidates, which is sometimes a good thing - or not."

Running unopposed, Lovitt says he feels pressure to perform his best for the public.

"It tells me that people expect a lot from me," Lovitt says. "Every election I anticipate that somebody may run against me - because that's the American way."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com