Ballotpedia covered all federal and state races on November 3, 2020, as well as local elections in America’s 100 largest cities by population. Of the 9,671 seats on the November ballot, 2,900 seats (30%) were uncontested. A race was considered uncontested if the number of candidates who filed for election was less than or equal to the number of seats on the ballot.
The states with the highest percentage of uncontested seats were Massachusetts and Alabama. In Massachusetts, 160 (73%) of 219 seats were uncontested on the November ballot. In Alabama, 34 (72%) of 47 seats were uncontested.
Other highlights from this analysis include:
- Federal races: Alabama had the highest percentage of uncontested congressional seats on the ballot at 38%.
- State executive races: In Massachusetts, all eight state executive seats on the ballot were uncontested.
- State legislative races: Excluding Mississippi, since it held one state legislative special election, Massachusetts had the highest percentage of uncontested seats at 75%.
- State judicial races: In North Dakota and Alabama, all of the state judicial races were uncontested.
- Local races: In Wisconsin, all eight races across Dane and Milwaukee counties were uncontested in the November election.
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