Community civics and rural life . he countywill pass out of existence entirely in a very short time, unless it does adjustitself to the new The same writer says, Unless the county does measure up in this way, the powers of governmentand the services which it renders will have to drift away from local controland be placed in the hands of some government more fit and which willprobably be further away from home. Students of county government attribute many of its defectsEffects of the to the long ballot (see p. 388). In one countylong ballot m North Carolina, at a recent election, t
Community civics and rural life . he countywill pass out of existence entirely in a very short time, unless it does adjustitself to the new The same writer says, Unless the county does measure up in this way, the powers of governmentand the services which it renders will have to drift away from local controland be placed in the hands of some government more fit and which willprobably be further away from home. Students of county government attribute many of its defectsEffects of the to the long ballot (see p. 388). In one countylong ballot m North Carolina, at a recent election, there weretwenty-five different candidates for county offices on each 1 H. S. Gilbertson, in the University of North Carolina Record, No. 159, October,1918, p. 37. OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 409 of three party tickets, making seventy-five candidates amongwhom each voter had to choose. Township and state officerswere also elected at the same election, bringing the number ofpersons to be voted for up to about fifty out of 150 Court House, Detroit, Mich. It is apparent that the average voter would have difficulty invoting intelligently. The long ballot has other results than the mere difficulty ofintelligent voting. One of these is a government G . without a head. While the board of supervisors or without acommissioners is nominally at the head of the county eagovernment, it has to work through the various administrative 410 COMMUNITY CIVICS officers. These are also elected by the people, and may be ofthe opposite political party. At all events, they are inde-pendent of the board, not responsible to it, and may or maynot work in harmony with it. A former member of a countyboard in North Carolina says, Most persons are under the impression that the board of commissioners,with its chairman, is at the head of the county government. . Theboard does have authority to say how about 19 cents of the entire tax levymay be spent, but its authority over the balance of the levy, over a
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