It seems that news has appeared regularly in recent years about the questionable actions of Fulton County sheriffs and, more recently, the current and previous superior court clerks. The sheriff in Athens-Clarke County has generated similar headlines in recent weeks. This is not unusual: News stories about cronyism, illegality or incompetence by elected "administrators" have shown up since the mid-1980s in DeKalb, Dodge, Dooly, Oconee and Paulding counties, among others.

Companies and city governments normally conduct national searches for employees, but Georgia's constitution requires that a county's voters elect one of their residents to be sheriff, probate judge, clerk of superior court and tax commissioner. Some counties also elect a clerk of state court, marshal, surveyor or coroner.

There are limited qualifications to be elected to these positions. Some of these people do a very good job, but why on earth are we taking that chance in the 21st century?

Most "constitutional officers" operate with limited control by the officials in charge of taxing, spending and delivering services: county commissioners, elected executives and hired county administrators. One way that Clarke, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties addressed this concern in the past was to set up professional police departments. This left their sheriffs to serve legal papers, run jails and protect courthouses.

In 1992, a commission on local governance reported to Gov. Zell Miller and recommended that county commissions "have the full legal authority to oversee and manage all county operations." They were especially concerned that employees of constitutional officers were not required to be part of county personnel systems even though the county was financially liable for their actions. Little has changed.

To most voters, these offices are obscure at best. In counties that tend to vote for one political party, the ability to elect someone new is often limited to the Democratic or Republican primary if someone other than an incumbent is running.

Critics also worry about the role of campaign money. A quick look at online contribution reports in Cobb, Gwinnett and Augusta-Richmond counties reveals some interesting patterns. Developers are noticeable contributors for tax commissioner campaigns, lawyers give to court clerks and bail bond companies donate to sheriffs.

In 2004, the Augusta-Richmond County sheriff raised more than $300,000 for his re-election —- and he was unopposed. The incumbent sheriff in Gwinnett raised $427,000, but he got "only" 65 percent of the vote in the Republican primary and did not have to face a Democrat in November. In Cobb, the incumbent sheriff raised almost $240,000. He was unopposed in the Republican primary, but his opponent did get one-third of the vote in November.

Also in 2004, the incumbent tax commissioner in Cobb raised more than $50,000 to defeat a Republican primary opponent who got 18 percent of the vote. No Democrat ran against her in November. Both the clerk of superior court and tax commissioner in Gwinnett ran unopposed in 2004 and raised a little over $20,000. A potential opponent to the tax commissioner in 2008 reported no contributions last year. Still, with the possibility of an opponent, the incumbent raised almost $45,000 last year.

Georgia's recall law allows citizens to force an election to remove any state or local elected official by using a petition signed by 15 percent of registered voters in the relevant area. Why can't we try this to eliminate a constitutional office altogether?

The Legislature should place an amendment on the statewide ballot to allow any county's voters to use a petition to call an election to eliminate a specific elected office and fill the position through merit-based hiring or contracting with a private firm. Voters might love their sheriff or probate judge, so counties should not be forced to make these changes. The matter would be left to local voters to decide, which is what one expects in a democracy.

In 1992, Georgia voted to amend the constitution to replace a hodgepodge of methods for choosing local school boards and superintendents. The new procedures required that all school boards be elected and have the power to hire and fire superintendents. This system has worked reasonably well, especially in conducting searches to hire a superintendent rather than electing a local resident to fill the position.

We need to try a similar approach with county government. Department heads should be hired and fired based on performance rather than being elected to offices about which voters know very little. Eliminating these offices would also reduce the ballot "clutter" that voters face on election day.

Arnold Fleischmann is associate professor of political science at the University of Georgia and co-author of "Politics in Georgia" (University of Georgia Press, 2007).