If taxpayers are going to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars for stadiums without getting a say in the matter, their elected representatives should pay, too.

In Cobb County, Georgia, taxpayers watched as county officials borrowed $376 million by issuing bonds — including nearly $300 million that will be paid out of property taxes — to finance the new SunTrust Park for the Atlanta Braves. During the process, ballpark opponents were barred from speaking against the lending scheme, the Braves’ president shrouded the deal in secrecy to prevent a public vote and the Georgia Supreme Court struck down an appeal against issuing the bonds. The county also ended up fronting the Braves another $9.9 million to build a pedestrian bridge over a highway to a convention and arts center after that somehow wasn’t included in the original deal.

To cap off the whole messy affair, Cobb County quietly passed an ordinance preventing businesses or private parking lots within a half mile of SunTrust park from selling spaces for people attending stadium events. That diverts all parking revenue to the Braves under the guise of “safety.”

Keep in mind that the Braves’ current ballpark just turned 20 years old this summer. Cobb County officials and the Braves owners kept harping on Turner Field’s lack of a MARTA subway connection, modest parking and location in a “bad” neighborhood — the latter accusation providing a rather thin veil for their more unsavory motivations. However, amid all of those complaints, the people of Cobb County never expressed an overwhelming desire to pay for a new ballpark for the Braves owner — $14 billion media conglomerate Liberty Media Group US:LMCA — or rip the Braves out of Atlanta entirely.

That became apparent July 26, when Cobb County residents voted out County Commission Chairman Tim Lee by an almost 2-to-1 margin. His opponent, Mike Boyce, ran primarily on one issue: Lee’s role in the ballpark debacle. Though Lee told Atlanta’s WSB-TV 2 that he doesn’t regret how the ballpark deal played out and just wished “folks would take time to really understand how it works,” his constituents had other ideas:

“A lot of people don’t like the way the Braves deal went down. That’s one of the reasons I’m here today because we had no say,” a voter said after Lee lost the election.

That’s the key issue with not only stadium finance, but with the U.S. political system: People do not feel that their concerns are being heard or understood by those elected to represent them. However, in recent years — and certainly in this election cycle — voters are more than happy to use their ballots to send a message, even if it results in a largely pyrrhic victory.

Miami miasma

The Braves’ National League East rivals, the Miami Marlins, caused a bit of their own political upheaval in their quest to fund Marlins Park. Before it opened in 2012, Marlins Park was paid for with $409 million in bonds from Miami-Dade County and $132.5 million from the city of Miami itself. That was more than 80% of the cost of the entire facility, with bond interest bringing the country’s portion to $2.4 billion and the city’s to $210 million by 2049.

As you may imagine, paying more than $2.6 billion for a sports facility didn’t sit well with anybody in either the city or the county. When Miami Mayor Manny Diaz’s term expired in 2009, city voters turned up their noses at Marlins-endorsed candidate Joe Sanchez and elected Tomás Regalado by an almost 3-to-1 margin after Regalado called out former Mayor Diaz for his role in the ballpark project. Miami-Dade County didn’t wait for county Mayor Carlos Álvarez’s term to end and dumped him in a recall election in 2011, handing his seat to ballpark opponent Carlos Giménez. Those quick ousters, and some digging into city and county finances by the Miami Herald and Deadspin, led to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission that continues to this day. If the SEC finds fault, it could turn the case over to the Justice Department or issue criminal charges itself.

Yes, all that came too late to save Miami (city or county) taxpayers for that ballpark burden, but the political consequences were so great that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was forced to find $450 million in private funds to upgrade the National Football League franchise’s “New Miami Stadium.” It also gave fans in other cities and regions a blueprint for how to prevent their elected officials from siphoning tax dollars into sports facilities without their permission.

Vegas shenanigans

Take Las Vegas, for example. After having MGM Grand and entertainment conglomerate Anschutz Entertainment Group foot the bill for the city’s $350 million T-Mobile Arena, it turns out that residents in Clark County, Nev., would rather not spend $500 million on an NFL stadium. With 55% of residents providing a definitive “no,” and only 35% voicing approval, it would appear that Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis and would-be business partner Sheldon Adelson (owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino corporation, among other holdings) might have to apply pressure to local politicians to get the $750 million in tax dollars they’re reportedly looking for. They face a stronger challenge in greater Nevada, where 60% of residents are firmly against, with just 28% in favor of spending that much on a stadium.

However, before the Nevada state legislature or Gov. Brian Sandoval get any ideas about playing ball with Davis and Adelson, we’ll politely remind them and Nevada voters that every elected public official below the federal level (U.S. representatives and senators) “is subject to recall from office by the registered voters of the state, county, district or municipality from which he/she was elected.”

Granted, Nevada citizens have to get the signatures of 25% of voters who actually voted in that official’s election within 90 days — and you have to hope that the secretary of state isn’t in someone’s pocket — but they can send one or a whole group of officials scrambling to hold on to their seats. Special elections aren’t free — one for a New Jersey U.S. Senate seat in 2013 cost $24 million — but they’re a whole lot cheaper than paying off $500 million plus bond interest.

What’s crucial is getting those petitions in at the earliest indication of sports-related interests raiding the public coffers. While holding politicians accountable afterwards is nice, it does little to lessen the financial burden left in their wake.

Political figures in Cobb County, Minneapolis, D.C. and elsewhere haven’t so much as blinked at the nine-figure public cost of sports facilities. Maybe they’ll give those deals a second look when that cost includes their jobs.

Jason Notte is a freelance writer based in Portland, Ore. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post and Esquire. Follow him on Twitter @Notteham.