The Cost of Running for Office

Last April, I decided to run for public office in my community in the United States – specifically, School Board Director. The experience has given me a front row seat to how our process works both explicitly and behind the scenes. While I am not surprised to learn that there are structural inequalities stabilizing the power balance in our society, it has been interesting and helpful to observe specific barriers for underrepresented groups. Most salient are the obstacles for people with low-income. I’ll discuss this as it relates to the resources of time, money and social capital.

Time

Running for office requires a big investment of time that low-income people may have less to spare. There are many legal requirements to registering as a candidate and running a campaign for office. Learning and executing those steps requires a lot of reading, completing paperwork, attending training, asking questions, financial reporting, and setting up/managing required administrative aspects. There’s no limit to the additional amount of time that could be invested, including researching, writing and publishing content, ordering materials, hosting or attending events, fundraising, managing social media, talking to voters, seeking endorsements, planting yard signs and walking door-to-door to meet voters. If running opposed, it would be difficult to be elected without a significant amount of time invested in these activities. Because of income inequality, low-income people are more likely to have to work full-time or more at one or more jobs and have much less time to conduct these activities.

Money

Running a campaign requires continuous financial outlay, starting prior to registering as a candidate through post-election – putting low-income individuals at a disadvantage. My modest campaign for a low-level, unpaid position will cost approximately $10,000 USD. Required costs include registration fees, postal box, email and website fees. A candidate running unopposed could get away with not much more than those basics, but in an opposed race, each candidate has to do their own work to communicate their name and platform to the community. This requires printing materials and signs, transportation costs, advertising and the costs of hosting or attending events. Although the money can be donated, unknown candidates running for low-level office are relying heavily on the willingness and ability of family and friends to donate – likely a more significant barrier for those with low-income. Furthermore, low-level offices are often unpaid or low-paid, presenting an opportunity cost to the incumbent.

Social Capital

Social capital is needed in order to gain access to people, spaces and resources that help build familiarity and trust around a candidate’s name. The purpose of a campaign is to market a candidate’s name, character and qualifications in order to influence voters on their ballot. All avenues for achieving this require either money, time, connections or some combination. Strong community connections can lead to invitations, support and endorsements. Endorsements are when a trusted organization or leader publicly state their support of a candidate and are what many voter’s rely on in absence of researching or meeting the candidate themselves (the later being impossible for the majority of voters). A candidate with few or no personal connections or social capital that grants them access to political or community leaders or potential donors is at a significant disadvantage. This is how people in power select the next people in power, putting low-income people at a disadvantage.

Having been steeped in this process almost daily for six months, I cannot imagine how I would have been able to participate without the luxury of time, money and social capital that I started with. A vote should be about campaign candidate qualifications and platform but it is largely about the time, money and social capital invested during a campaign, all of which can be significant barriers for people with low-income.