It could have been lively, but it looks like the Redmond election season will be pretty laid back.

Of the four city council races, two will be contested and Mayor John Marchione will get to keep his spot at City Hall for another four years as no one was up for the challenge.

The only unlikely scenario that Marchione is unseated is if a write-in gets more votes than Marchione. That will happen when pigs fly.

The only city council incumbent to draw a challenger is David Carson in Pos. 7. Education Hill city activist Sue Stewart is looking to change things up in the particular seat.

The race for Pos. 5 is also contested but by two incumbents in city planning commissioner Tom Flynn and Microsoft accountant Joel Wright. Pos. 5 is currently held by council president Richard Cole, who plans to retire at the end of his term. Cole said he hoped all the city council races were contested as it makes the candidates show their full potential.

Two of the three Lake Washington School District board of directors races will be uncontested, including one where the incumbent did not seek re-election. There will be at least one new face as Redmond resident Siri Bliesner filed to run for District No. 5, currently held by Ravi Shahani, who did not file for re-election.

Marchione said the lack of local challengers indicates residents are happy with the way the city is operating, which is more than likely true. We hope the uncontested incumbents continue to work hard, challenge the status quo and remain connected to the city’s residents — even though they don’t have to power through the challenge of election season.

But as time-consuming and sometimes messy as they can be, elections are what a democracy is all about.

Elections mean that opposing sides must directly engage with each other and the community. It is expensive, time consuming and often frustrating and painful for those who run as they are often pulled away from talking about what really matters to issues of little importance — issues brought up to embarrass or distract.

Running for office is not for the faint of heart. Yet most incumbents welcome the opportunity to talk with constituents and reintroduce themselves to the community. For those who take on running for office against an incumbent, it is the same. Painful in some ways, rewarding in others. Many recognize it may take a time or two to reach their goal of being an elected official — to influence a city or a school district in a meaningful way. It can be a long and expensive slog.

Of course, city council and the school board directors get little or no pay, so the motivation is their dedication to the community. Plenty of people have that here and have found other ways to give. Many are unwilling or unable to set aside enough time to tackle the issues that stand before us both at the city and inside schools. Much good gets done on personal initiative here.

We hope that the lack of candidates does not reflect indifference. And there are other ways to contribute. But part of our job as citizens, part of our democratic process is to challenge the status quo periodically, to perform a gut check to see how we are doing.

This process is lost without challengers, ideas and discussion in an election year.

And more would have made it merrier.