Democracy doesn’t collapse all at once. It fades - quietly, gradually, in town halls and meeting rooms where fewer and fewer people are willing to stand up and say: I’ll serve.
In Delaware County, that fading is already underway. On March 18, villages across the county held their elections. The results were striking - not for who won, but for how few people were involved. In Delhi, two incumbent trustees won with 37 and 36 votes respectively. In Franklin, the mayor was reelected with 30 votes. In Hobart, a trustee seat was secured with just 16. Most of these weren’t races at all - they were uncontested incumbents collecting a handful of ballots in near-empty polling places.
This follows a broader pattern. In 2025, 13 of the 17 town supervisor seats up for election ran uncontested. No challenger. No debate. No real choice. Election Day was a formality - the outcome decided before a single vote was cast.
Consider what that means in practice. In 2025, Tina Molé ran uncontested for town supervisor in Bovina, winning with 210 votes. She was then elected by the Delaware County Board of Supervisors to serve as its chair - making her the most powerful local government figure in Delaware County. That is not a criticism of Ms. Molé. It is an illustration of how much consequence flows from a single uncontested race in a small town. Bovina residents had no choice in who represented them - and yet that representative now leads the entire county.
When an office goes uncontested year after year, something corrosive happens. Leaders stop being accountable - not because they are corrupt, but because accountability requires the possibility of consequence. Without a challenger, there is no electoral incentive to explain decisions, respond to criticism, or change course. And decision-making becomes insular. The same voices dominate. The same assumptions go unchallenged. The circle of who gets heard grows smaller, and most residents don’t notice until the gap between their community’s needs and their government’s response becomes impossible to ignore.
Delaware County residents are already feeling that gap. Sales tax revenue stays at the county level, with none shared back to the towns and villages that helped generate it. Supervisors meet without a public comment period, leaving residents with no formal seat at the table. These are the predictable results of a governing structure that has never had to answer to a serious challenge.
The solution requires courage. It requires community members to recruit their neighbors and convince them their voice belongs in the room. It requires voters to understand that an uncontested race is not a victory - it is a warning sign.
Local government is not distant or abstract. It is the road in front of your house and the body that represents your community at the county level. When it stops being contested, it stops being truly democratic.
Delaware County is too good a place to let that happen. You can make a difference. Host an event in your town. Talk to your neighbors. Make the commitment to run for Town Supervisor this year. Resources and information can be found at rundelco.org
Kristin Antin
Meredith
Kristin Antin serves on the Meredith Town Board and writes here in their individual capacity.
