Elections and Representation in American Municipal Administration: Elite Survey Evidence from Five New England States

How does the way that public officials are selected affect how they represent their constituents? Do elections facilitate representation relative to indirect appointment? Municipal clerks in the New England states provide an ideal setting to explore these questions, as they 1) are essential government actors, 2) serve in full-service local governments with few overlapping jurisdictions, and 3) vary in the methods through which they are selected. To understand clerks’ attitudes vis-a-vis their constituents, we conduct an original online and mail survey of municipal clerks in five New England states. Our findings suggest that elected clerks are more public service-oriented and are more attentive to constituent concerns, but that there is little difference in substantive ideological, partisan, or policy representation between selection methods. Our analysis provides some of the clearest evidence to date on the relationship between the extensive margin of elections and representation, and provides a model for future exploration of additional offices and dimensions of representation.

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