Governors should face re-election in 2020

Right now, in most of the United States, gubernatorial elections aren’t at the same time as presidential elections. Most are in midterm election years; for example, as I write this article in 2018, there are thirty-six gubernatorial elections underway. In 2016, the last presidential election cycle, there were only eleven gubernatorial elections.

A map of the current gubernatorial election schedules as of 2018. The two governors on biennial election schedules (every two years) have to face presidential election turnout; governors

This is bad, because it means most governors are more insulated from public opinion than other elected officials. Presidential elections are when most voters show up to the polls; turnout is lower in midterm elections.

Governors who are more insulated from public opinion are less accountable to the public and have more reason to cater to special interest groups over the general interest of the public. This in turn leads to lower approval ratings and higher levels of corruption in the state government — which are clear measures that something has gone wrong.

Less public accountability means more corruption

Convictions counts from “2015: A Banner Year in Illinois Corruption” by Simpson et al., averaged over 1970–2010 populations. Outliers are MT and PA.

When we look at corruption on a state by state basis, it seems clear that there is some sort of relationship between corruption and election schedules…