First, let’s thank everyone who filed for election to seats on the Lawrence school board and Lawrence City Commission.

It takes a special commitment to be willing to serve on these two bodies, especially during the difficult financial times we now face. Many difficult decisions will have to be made on behalf of city and school district constituents, and it’s important to have well-motivated, well-informed public officials making those decisions.

Despite the difficult economic circumstances, eight candidates are seeking one of three seats that are open on each body. Because of a new state law, there will be no primary election to narrow the fields. All 16 candidates will advance to the general election on April 7.

It will be interesting to see how that works out. The state law passed late in the 2008 legislative session was intended to reduce the need for primary elections, a money-saving measure, especially for smaller Kansas towns. Previously a primary was required to narrow the field whenever the number of filed candidates was more than double the number of seats available. Now, there must be three candidates for every one that will be elected for a primary to be held.

The law applies to both school board and City Commission elections. The school board is bound by the state law, but the city could have opted out of the law by passing a charter ordinance. That wasn’t done this year, in part, because city officials ran out of time to complete the process before the current election cycle, but also because commissioners thought they should give the new system a chance before rejecting it.

Officials and voters now will have that opportunity. Unlike many smaller communities, Lawrence is fortunate to have enough public-spirited individuals to fill the commission and school board slates on a regular basis. Up to 10 (or maybe 11; the state law isn’t very clear) candidates could have filed in each race without triggering a primary. If the city or school board had hit that number, a primary would have been held, but only to reduce the number of candidates to nine, the equivalent of three for each seat. Previously each field would have been narrowed to six.

Having eight candidates going all the way to the general election in each race should provide a good test of the system. Even with just two additional candidates, voters will have to work harder to educate themselves about candidates and issues and candidates will have to work harder to get their message out. Given the traditional low turnout in local elections, it also means that school board and commission members likely will be elected with relatively few votes and perhaps by very small margins over their opponents.

Douglas County officials estimate they will save $40,000 by not having a primary election. If the new system has little impact on the election outcome or voters’ satisfaction with the results, that will be a nice savings for the county. We may find, however, that $40,000 isn’t too much to spend to help local voters learn more about the candidates before casting their votes for those who will serve on these two vitally important bodies.