By now, our seats are in the upright position, our personal possessions (are there any other kind?) are properly stowed and we are tired of hearing lectures about why we don't vote.

Well, get used to it. The plain fact is that the voting performance of Hawai'i residents is just a little short of dismal. It's not quite as bad as national reports would have it, since those measurements are based on actual votes cast compared against eligible voters.

By national standards, that includes folks such as the military, who usually don't vote in Hawai'i for good reasons. They want to maintain residence in another state for tax or other purposes.

But even when the numbers are sorted out to reflect something closer to reality, our voting performance is nothing to write home about. It falls woefully short of the exuberant performance of the voters in the early post-statehood days, when voting was more than a right, it was a ritual.

But to be fair, some of the tongue-clucking should be reserved for the other side of the equation: the candidates. Fewer and fewer people are willing to stand for office; no wonder the voters are losing interest.

This year's list of candidates for office tells the tale.

The total number of candidates is down and the number of offices in which the incumbent is not challenged at all nearly doubled over two years ago.

Many of the races feature the bare minimum needed for a contest, the incumbent and one challenger. Many of the challengers filed at the last minute (particularly on the Republican side). This suggests an effort by the parties to make at least a symbolic statement against the idea of a free ride.

Most of the action, such as it is, in in races where there is no incumbent. The most spectacular example, of course, is in the race for the U.S. House seat vacated by Ed Case, where no fewer than 13 people are running.

Now that's an election!

Looking through the legislative races, you rarely see more than two names other than in a handful of districts where the incumbent has stepped down. That's the case in the 19th Senate District (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele), for instance, where Sen. Brian Kanno has retired.

Same picture in the 25th House District (Makiki, Tantalus), where Rep. Brian Schatz has quit to run for Congress.

There's also a vibrant campaign in the 23rd District (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'a-ko), where there is an incumbent, but just barely, in the person of Rep. Anne Stevens, appointed in January to take the seat vacated by former Rep. Galen Fox.

But those are the exceptions. What we need to be thinking about is why there is so little apparent interest in running for office. If it takes a vacant seat to stimulate candidates, you have to think that the motivation is more about gaining office for its own sake rather than advancing ideas or a political ideology.

That's a rather sad thought. If people only run when they have a good shot at winning, we leave behind a lot of good ideas and fresh perspectives.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.