Responses will vary. A sample response follows: An elected position is a position that a person gains by winning the most number of votes in an election. The biggest advantage to an elected position is that everyone gets to put their opinion into who receives the job. An appointed position is given to a particular person, usually by a board of elected officials. At the county level, the board of supervisors usually makes the appointments. The advantage to an appointed official is that these officials are usually chosen for their expertise in a certain area. This assures that an expert receives the position instead of someone who won an election, but has no idea how to execute the duties of the job.
The merits of electing versus appointing particular officials are widely debated, the people who debates them and support the elected positions state that the elections for a position ensure them transparency in the process and that the people elected is well know for the votants and that gives them a sense that their needs and desires, as citizens will be fullfiled, on the other hand the people that support the appointed positions state that, the elections are deprioritizes the required quantitative skills and encourages bureaucratic cronyism, they believe that the people that is appointed has the needed skills and will fullfil the people's needs.
William McKinley won the election of 1896 on a platform of increased industrialization, higher wages, and the "gold standard." He was later assassinated at gun point during his second term in 1901.
