If the TalkBoard positions were as widely advertised as the various “Reporter seeking such and such type of traveler” stickies, I believe we would have a much broader base of voters and a more differentiated list of candidates. Which is in my opinion a good goal for a board of this size.
While I don't disagree in theory with what you posted in this paragraph and while I give ^^ to this proposal that's on the voting floor right now, I believe it was a sticky announcement that there was a call for candidates and I'm pretty sure it was also included in the TalkMail, IIRC. I'm not sure what else could conceivably be done to try and garner more candidates without going over the "annoyance" line.