State and Federal elections may get more attention, but Melissa Kono says it’s the local races that impact many people’s top concerns like local taxation, schools, and roads.
“I think if people knew all the decisions that were made at the local level, they would realize just how important it is that people are willing to serve in those elected offices and make decisions that really have a great impact on us, that I think just tend to get overlooked,” said Kono. Kono is a professor with University of Wisconsin, Madison extension and municipal clerk specialist with the Local Government Center.
She encourages people looking to get involved with local government to consider their own interests and where their skills or life experiences may be most helpful.
“There's some research around local government, and also the corporate world, that diverse boards make better decisions,” said Kono. “When you have a range of experiences representative on a board, they tend to make better policy, better decisions. I would, you know, think about who's not being represented in the room.”
Kono recognizes running for office is not for everyone.
She says people can also get involved by encouraging someone they think would be a good fit to run or helping circulate papers on their behalf. Kono notes that women, who tend to be underrepresented in local government, are more likely to run if someone asked them to.
“That kind of plants the seed so that people who maybe have never considered running for office or just need a little bit of encouragement, kind of start to think about how they could serve, and that others believe in them and their abilities,” said Kono.
People interested in running should contact the filing officer for that entity. For county board, that would be the county clerk. City or Town boards would be the city or town clerk. Schools also have a clerk for the school boards.
All county board seats as well as some city council, town board, and school board seats are up for re-election.
Candidates need to file all their paperwork, including the needed signatures, by January 6th at 5:00 p.m.
The local elections are on April 7th.
