‘Please, I need a clerk!’ No candidates for almost 500 positions on Michigan ballots

Vital jobs in Michigan local governments are vacant because too few are willing to run for office.
Recent election changes have made clerks difficult to recruit and retain
Bills meant to address the crisis are sitting idle in Lansing

As a real estate agent, Tish Mallory is used to crisscrossing the country roads of Seville Township in mid-Michigan’s Gratiot County looking to match homes with buyers.

But this summer, she drove those same roads looking for something more elusive: someone, anyone, willing to run for township clerk, a job that pays $12,960 a year and often comes with a fair amount of abuse from residents.

“I asked several people who said ‘no,’” before the deadline to get names on the November ballot, said Mallory, the rural township’s supervisor.

“We have an appointed clerk now who I had to beg,” Mallory said. “‘Please, I need a clerk!’”

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A Bridge Michigan analysis of ballots in communities across Michigan found at least 478 elected races with no candidate or too few candidates running — threatening to leave close to 1-in-10 offices vacant out of the more than 5,400 local elected positions on the ballot throughout Michigan Nov. 3.

Those unwanted jobs range from library boards that decide what books to purchase and put on shelves to school boards that help set education policyto village presidents to township supervisors. The openings are spread across the state but hit rural communities particularly hard. Local school board positions are by far the office most frequently going unfilled, making up close to a third of the positions lacking candidates.

City, township and village boards can appoint individuals to vacant positions after the election if there were no candidates. If boards are unable to fill those positions, the vacancies return to the ballot in the next regularly scheduled election.

It’s not just a Michigan problem. One study found 10,000 open seats in which there were no candidates across the nation in 2024.

Experts say it’s a growing but little-recognized problem. While top-of-the-ticket races such as governor and US senator get lots of attention and candidates, Michigan’s local communities struggle to find people willing to shoulder the typically part-time, low-paid jobs that keep water flowing and roads repaved.

Three out of four townships and villages report having more difficulty filling mandatory elected positions, according to a recent University of Michigan survey of community leaders. Animosity toward national politics has seeped into town halls, where trust in government is making public service jobs less attractive, said Stephanie Leiser, director of U-M’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, which conducted the survey.

“Who wants to sign up for a low-paying job where you’re officially working 12 hours (a week) but it’s more like a full-time job,” Leiser said. “And by the way your neighbors may hate you.”

Those vacancies matter, because many of the positions directly impact daily quality of life, from collecting taxes to running elections, Leiser said.

“We want smart, motivated people in these jobs,” she said. “If you’re just begging people to take positions, you’re probably not going to get the most qualified person.”

There are at least 14,500 elected local government positions in Michigan townships, villages, cities and school boards. The majority are part-time, with those in small, rural areas often paid under $10,000 a year.

Trustees in smaller townships can make as little as $50 a meeting. Many school and library boards are unpaid.

Bridge collected online samples of ballots in every community across the state to compile a list of races in which no one is running. The list includes races in which there are not enough candidates to fill multiple available positions — for example, if only two candidates are running for three open school board posts.

The analysis found 145 school board posts without candidates, 151 village board posts and 29 library board positions.

Many openings are critical to the operations of local communities. The city of Laingsburg in Shiawassee County has no one running for mayor. Neither does Arenac County’s city of Omer, which also has two city council member posts that are vacant.

Fifteen of Michigan’s 252 villages have no candidates for village president, including New Lothrop Village in Shiawassee County.

“What are we going to do?” asked Karen Maksimchuck, who has been the clerk of New Lothrop for 39 years. The village of 565 people also has a board post for which no one is running. By law, the president and board members must be residents of the village.

“Our previous mayor moved Up North. My husband is filling in (as village president), but he’s already done his two years.”

Maksimchuck said the village board will “advertise in the local paper after the election” to solicit applications for the post so the board can appoint someone.

No one is going to do it for the $1,800 annual salary, the clerk said.

“I don’t think (the trouble finding candidates) has anything to do with the pay,” Maksimchuck said. “I think some people don’t want to get involved.”

There are 10 township clerk openings on Michigan ballots for which no one is running. One vacancy is in 745-resident Bridgehampton Township in Sanilac County.

Township clerks manage elections, but it’s become harder to recruit and retain township clerks since changes to the state constitution mandated additional days of voting, said Bridgehampton Township Supervisor Leo Sonck.

“It’s a lot more work (than in the past),” Sonck said. The clerk post pays $11,000 a year. “Even if we wanted to add extra compensation, we can’t.

“There’s been a heavy turnover of clerks in the last four years, because of the extra work,” Sonck said. “There were a lot of veteran clerks who said, ‘I’m done.’”

A closeup of a voting machine — Michigan communities are struggling to find residents willing to take on the vital but often part-time, low-paid positions in local government. (Kristen Norman for Bridge Michigan)

Ingallston Township, near the Wisconsin border in Menominee County, is one of four townships with no one running for treasurer, a position responsible for tax collection and banking.

“We’ve been looking for a treasurer since I started two years ago,” said Ingallston Supervisor Dan Bartell. “It’s a really good position for somebody that’s retired and can be part-time, work from home, earn a few extra bucks. But generally, people don’t like to deal with the public. There’s a lot of demanding people out there who expect things to happen yesterday.”

Michael Siegrist, clerk of Canton Charter Township, the second highest-populated township in the state with about 99,000 residents, said he believes the struggles to find candidates for local offices can be traced to a general decline in public service.

“Volunteerism is down everywhere, from Elks Clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis,” said Siegrist, who serves as president of the Michigan Municipal Clerk Association. “There’s some fraying of community ties.”

For example, the Jaycees, which bills itself as a leadership training and civic organization, has suffered membership declines of over 10% annually across the country in recent years. Those organizations used to serve as feeder systems for public service, Siegrist said.

“Civics as a value has been more challenged,” Siegrist said. “And institutions don’t have the same value or respect as they used to.

Several bills that could make it easier to fill local government jobs are getting little traction in Lansing.

One set of bills would appropriate $3.5 million to provide “back office” help with finance, human resources and information technology, easing the strain on clerks and treasurers. Another would allow townships to hire someone who is certified to run elections from outside the township if the clerk position is vacant.

“Most of these positions are over and above the employment that people have,” Siegrist said. “The load on our individuals in our society has gotten heavier, and that makes it more difficult.”

Faced with candidate shortages, some townships are working around the law to appoint deputy clerks and treasurers who aren’t required to be community residents. Without the same residential requirement, many villages have switched from elected to employee clerks and treasurers, and shrinking councils to the legal minimum of five members.

Meanwhile, in Seville Township, Supervisor Mallory is already looking for someone who’d be willing to run for township clerk in 2028

“It’s hard,” she said. “Somebody’s gotta do it.”