America is facing a crisis on which, for once, Democrats and Republicans can agree: low voter turnout in local elections. Nationwide, only 27 percent of eligible voters vote in the typical municipal election.

New York City is typical. In 2017, 25 percent of the city’s registered voters participated in the mayoral contest. In Los Angeles turnout has been so low — 20 percent of registered voters in 2017 — that the City Council has used cash prizes to encourage voting. The numbers get even worse as you go down the ladder to county, school board and special elections.

The result is that an extraordinarily unrepresentative set of residents determines how local governments distribute services and spend the almost $2 trillion that local governments control. In some places, that means that politically active conservative, wealthy, older, white voters have disproportionate sway over local government. In others that means that organized and energetic unions can move policy their way. Seldom is that control shared across the spectrum — and democracy suffers as a result.

This isn’t a new problem, and its causes are fairly obvious: Many local elections are held on dates other than national elections. Sometimes it’s a different day; sometimes it’s an off-year, in between midterms and presidential votes. It’s hard enough getting people to vote for president and Congress; it’s even harder to get them out again to vote for county and city officials.