Abraham Lincoln famously spoke of a government of, by and for the people.
Yet it's getting harder to find people to serve in government, according to a survey of local leaders across Michigan.
The findings come in the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy.
Leaders from more than three-quarters of jurisdictions statewide say not enough residents are willing to run for elected office and nearly as many note candidacies are often uncontested. A similar proportion of local leaders say not enough residents are willing to serve on appointed boards or committees.
The concerns appear in every type of government, from counties to townships. Among the reasons, respondents feel their residents lack the time and are unsure they have the requisite knowledge to serve.
"This is a problem for almost every community, but it's particularly a challenge for Michigan's small and rural jurisdictions," said Debra Horner, the survey's senior program manager. "Every local government has governing boards and volunteer commissions where important community business must be tackled, but in many communities, the small pool of residents they have to recruit from means they're often relying on the same people over and over again, or seats just go unfilled."
A quarter of leaders believe residents are concerned about potential harassment, reflecting findings from 2022 showing nearly half of local officials personally experienced online or in-person harassment while serving in their local government.
Some remedies cited include word-of-mouth recruitment, endorsed by 74% of respondents, and social media outreach, which 48% of leaders say is or could be effective. Leaders in urban and mostly urban communities are especially likely to recommend social media as a resident recruitment strategy.
"These results show that it's increasingly unrealistic to just hope for public-spirited residents to step up and volunteer to work many hours for little to no pay and, at best, minimal appreciation from other community members, and at worst, outright hostility or harassment from those who disagree," said Stephanie Leiser, CLOSUP's director and one of the report's co-authors. "Addressing these issues is going to take both practical discussions about incentives, barriers and constraints residents face, as well as broader discussions about how communities value public service and honor those who step up to volunteer."
Respondents include county, city, township and village officials from 1,328 jurisdictions across the state, resulting in a 72% response rate by unit. The survey was conducted April 7-June 12, 2025.
