They’re a regular part of the ballot, but the election of precinct committeemen and committeewomen doesn’t get a lot of attention. Often, no candidates are listed for the positions, and too many people have little or no idea what those people do.

Well, most of the time, they don’t do a lot, but every once in a while, they are entrusted with a decision that has a significant impact on the community.

One of those instances is coming up on April 4, when the Democratic committeemen and committeewomen in the 1st Douglas County Commission District will gather to select a replacement for Commissioner Charles Jones, who has submitted his resignation from that post.

The 1st District covers 21 precincts, all within the Lawrence city limits. Democrats in each of those precincts are eligible to elect one man and one woman to represent them on their party’s county committee. If all of the positions were filled, there would be 42 people eligible to vote on Jones’ replacement. However, only 23 of those positions were filled in last November’s election. No one can be elected to those positions now, so that means 23 people are eligible to select the person who will become one-third of the government body that makes decisions for the entire county.

And you always thought those positions weren’t very important!

A similar situation arose in January 2003 when Rep. Troy Findley took a job on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ staff and resigned his seat in the Kansas House. Because he is a Democrat, it fell to the Democrats in the 46th District to elect his replacement. The district had only 16 eligible committee members, of whom 15 actually turned up to cast a ballot. They elected Rep. Paul Davis, who has been re-elected three times and now is serving as the House minority leader, so they must have made a good choice, but it would have been nice for more people to have a voice in the decision.

Turning to political committees is a reasonable way to fill these vacancies and avoid the expense of a special election, but the system works best if voters are vigilant in electing representatives to their county committee posts.

The selection of a new county commissioner, who will serve almost two years, now is in the hands of 23 Lawrence Democrats. We thank them for their service on the Democratic committee and urge them to keep the best interests of the community in mind as they approach this important task.