ALBANY — Many town and county elections in New York state would be moved to even-numbered years to synchronize them with state and federal races, under a bill approved by the state Legislature.
Democratic bill sponsors say moving the elections for town supervisor, county executive and some other local posts from odd-numbered years would increase voter turnout.
“This is also to help with trying to just get the average voter to be able to breathe a little bit in between of having to go out and run to the polls,” state Sen. James Skoufis told reporters this week.
The measure would not affect city elections or certain local posts such as county district attorney, which are held on odd-numbered years under terms of the state constitution, sponsors said.
The Assembly approved the bill Thursday night. The state Senate followed suit before finishing its regular session early Saturday.
Republican lawmakers accuse sponsors of playing politics by moving local elections to higher-turnout presidential election years, which could favor Democrats. They also claim local races in even years would be overshadowed.
“The concern is if you mix it in with all of us, those issues are going to be way taken over by presidential or congressional or even state issues,” Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said.
If approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the measure would not affect elections this year. Local officials eventually would have to run for a shortened term to get them on an even-year cycle.
