Now here's an interesting idea to force electoral competition: Massachusetts is considering enacting a law that would add a "none of the above -- new election" line to ballots. If that option won the most votes, a new election would be called within 80 days. "In a state where 70 percent of candidates ran unopposed last year," says The Boston Globe, "the bill would let voters try to force competition by calling for a new election." Now, most candidates run unopposed because incumbents are very hard to beat -- voters tend to be satisfied with their personal representative, if not with Congress or politics as a whole. Still, I don't see how this legislation could hurt anything, and it could create a safety valve to reject candidates who get embroiled in scandal or wrongdoing after the filing deadline for challengers has passed.
