Hillbilly wisdom: the cost of running for political office is restrictive to say the least. Several candidates ran unopposed in the Arkansas general election. Is Arkansas so poor that otherwise qualified candidates cannot hope to win so they don’t bother to run?

As you viewed your voting selections it was evident that who ever designed the ballot did not want any blank spaces or non votes because they offered the option of voting yes for all the unopposed candidates if you skipped them. The ballot designers did not, however, offer the option of voting no against all unopposed candidates. Does this remind you of voting opinions in one party nations, say like Russia or China?

Purely hypothetical, what would happen if (a) the no option existed and (b) the unopposed candidates got more no votes than yes votes?