The number of elected officials at the state and local level increased towards middle of the 19th century with the growth of Jacksonian democracy.
[1] Making these positions elected was a reform designed to decrease the spoils system of partisan appointments and increase government accountability to the people.
For example, by 1911 a voter in Cleveland, Ohio would be deciding on 74 different elected offices for state, county, and city on the same ballot every two years.
[2] Critics argued that these officials performed obscure roles in government and resulted in voter apathy.
The organization's president and leading national advocate was US President Woodrow Wilson, and its leadership included noted progressive like Winston Churchill (the American novelist), Henry Jones Ford, Ben B Lindsey, John Ames Mitchell, William U'Ren, and William Allen White.