Being a governor is, as MalagAste said, not really much of a privilege on any shard. However, I want to expand on this a bit.
Governors do have _some_ say in how things happen on their shard. Witness to fact the docks at Yew and Minoc - this was done by concerted efforts of the Governors across all shards. However, do not assume that this was done solely by the Governors' wills - it was a lot of lobbying to via the EMs to the devs that turned that out. Some of us used common sense (why have shipwrights if no can launch ship?) others used RP (need the docks for a navy to protect the shores around the Yew Prison from pirates wanting to rescue their cohorts). In any case, we proposed, we reasoned, we pushed (some cried) and lo! A change occurred.
In spirit, the governorship is a position of service. People who are elected act as the voice of their constituents - meaning they speak up for the people of their shard. They also rally the citizens of their respective cities for whatever deeds (or miss deeds) are needed for that particular city. How a governor actually goes about that is up to the individual gov. I reached out to the citizens of Yew on Napa so many times... and none showed. That contributed greatly to my retirement as gov - why be a governor of nothing? I shifted my attention from in-game to Stratics and that is where it is. I felt I could do more good for the community overall than to focus my time and resources on a non-existent portion of it.
Early on, the EMs did listen and work with the governors. For the most part they still do. Governors who are active within their community do tend to be RPers and thus, when they share with the king what is going on, well - of course it looks slanted in that way - for they are the ones who are speaking up. Now, get some "non-RP people" to take over a few city stones, then fine - they will bend the ear of "the king" and as such then the RPers will cry foul. Got news for all of you - despite how many thees and thous you use or not, we are all RPers. Anyone who does anything within any game plays out a certain role - be they the PKer or the Sosarian.
However a person gets into the position - it is done by popular vote. If a person is more popular, then so be it. Perhaps that popularity is by virtue of their activity or their campaigning. As the system stands now, that is something we have to accept.
A root issue with the whole thing is that yes, people who vote do have to claim citizenship and yes they have to have some level of reputation with said city - but that's it. There is no other investment. A character claiming to be a citizen of Yew, well, should LIVE within the vicinity of Yew, imo. Not have their castle over on Ice Island or their primary home in Luna. Should Yew be invaded, what harm is it to them and their private holdings? I've always disagreed with people living far from their city of choice and being able to vote there. If a person votes for a town, they better have roots in that town... and for UO that means a house.
So - maybe the devs should draw up lines on the map saying this part is for citizens of Yew, this part for citizens of Brit. Then players plop their houses and therein they can register to vote. Of course, as a citizen they get some city perks (this all goes back to my ideas on taxation for provinces and such - so won't get into that).
Can the system be changed now, this far into its existence? I doubt it. Maybe it can, and those that actually live within the province have more "weight" on their votes... meaning if you live on the New Magincia island, your vote actually counts two times whereas the person who lives on the mainlaind only counts once. Something like that.
The system was designed to get players more involved.... yes, the EMs have a "boring scripts" they use, but if more participation came from the players, they wouldn't have to be so boring. It all comes back to us players.
Now... if people just wanna play a pre-formatted game, they are in the wrong place. Go play those "guided MMOs" or a console game. That is not what UO is about.