Should local Democrats give Republican candidates time to speak?

[willamette]

3. They decide amongst themselves, well before the "election."

I was both astonished and then rapidly said to myself, "Of course they do." It took several elections with no opponent on the ballot for Sheriff (Oregon counties), and then finally a couple of newspaper (we used to have those) articles that explained that the old sheriff would resign early, which would open up the spot for an appointee, who would become the incumbent. The deadlines for registering for the election were futzed around with ... if you didn't do something, something, before somewhen, you couldn't be on the ballot ...
I'm not sure how they manage to keep any opposition off the ballot completely, but they do. The same with elected judges. You have a choice in the election, of the one person on the ballot.