VOTING IS SO EASY IN PARADISE & WALDO

6
4/2/2009
In some towns, filing for office is an exception
By TIM UNRUH
Salina Journal
http://www.saljournal.com/news/Story/waldo-and-paradise-4109

WALDO -- Folks here pick their leaders without the formality of filing fees and candidate names printed on ballots.
The write-in form of choosing a mayor and city council is the method most commonly used at Waldo.
"Whoever gets wrote in the most is on the council," said Albert Clow, mayor of Waldo, population "around 35." He's been the mayor since 1997.
That's also the norm in Paradise, population 60 or fewer. Both towns are in northern Russell County.
For Tuesday's election, no names will be listed on the ballot for city council or mayor in either town. Voters will pencil in their picks when they enter the voting booths, which in each town are in former school buildings.
"It's just a personal preference for them," said Mary Nuss, Russell County clerk. "It doesn't matter to me. Whether they do it by write-in or file, my job is to tally the votes, however they turn them in."
Ballots are often printed without candidates, especially in tiny towns, said Larry Baer, of Topeka, assistant general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities. In Kansas, there are 95 towns with fewer than 100 residents. Among those are Clayton, population 66, in western Norton County. No one there filed for mayor or the five city council seats.
"That's a chronic, or recurring, issue," Baer said. "I refer to it as the warm body syndrome, or lack thereof. Most (blank ballots) come when the number of people to choose from is very restricted."
In the past 12 years, Clow, 60, said two people bothered to file for elected office in Waldo, and both were defeated by write-ins.
"With that few of people, your options are limited anyhow," Clow said.

In Paradise, city council member Marilyn Barrett might campaign NOT to be re-elected. She's been on the council since the mid-1990s.
"I got on and I've never been able to get off," she said. "Nobody wants on, so nobody files. It's like a sentence."
Her son, Russell County Undersheriff Max Barrett, holds a seat, along with deputy Fred Whitman. Marilyn Barrett, 79, who serves as a receiving clerk during elections, said people write in their choice for Paradise leadership.
"I'm sure they're going to put me back in. That's the way it works," she said. "We have so few people living here. I feel like somebody has to do their civic duty, so I willingly accept."

The "volunteer" job in Waldo involves a monthly meeting to pay the bills, Clow said, and those gatherings of elected officials last 30 minutes to an hour. The five-member council includes one married couple, Dustin and Sarah Finkenbinder. Votes are almost always unanimous.
"If somebody wants it, they can sure take it, but I haven't heard of anybody. You never campaign for a job like this," Clow said.
Voters don't take elections for granted. He would pit Waldo's voter turnout -- nearly 100 percent for city elections -- against any Kansas town of any size.
"Those who are registered will generally make the effort to come up here and vote," Clow said.
Waldo's revenue comes from providing water, its portion of Russell County's 0.5 percent sales tax ($2,022.83 in 2008) and property tax. There is no city sewer, so residents use septic tank systems.
"We have a water maintenance man who also does the streets and mows the ditches and park. That's me," he said.
There are two other part-time Waldo workers -- City Clerk Barbara Robertson and Treasurer Joan Pitts. Retired from the military, Clow said he's paid $180 a month, or $6 an hour for 30 hours of work. He doesn't recall how much his colleagues make.
"I don't get paid to be mayor. The president of the council (James Piland) is my boss," Clow said.
Waldo became an incorporated city in 1911, he said, and at times enjoyed a population of 300 or more. That's the minimum requirement for a new town to incorporate, Baer said.
"We're grandfathered in," Clow said.
Today, Waldo has a beauty salon, a grain elevator that's open during wheat harvest, a convenience store that doesn't sell fuel and an antique shop. The antique shop is open by appointment.
Half of the residents are elderly, Clow said, but there are a number of younger families with preschool and school-aged children.
"By and large, everybody gets along," Clow. "We're basically a very quiet town."