Albany, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed a bill that will move most local elections to even years.
Democrats who control New York’s Legislature voted on the last day of their annual session to change most town and county elections to even-numbered years, when Democrats typically have their highest voter turnout.
Democrats who sponsored the bill said it would improve democracy in New York by increasing voter participation and decreasing confusion about which offices are on the ballot.
Most Republicans opposed the change, arguing it is a political ploy to win more local elections.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, a Republican who won reelection this year, said on social media that the law is “likely illegal especially for Chartered Counties.”
McMahon said the county would litigate the law “on behalf of our residents who voted on the years they want their local elections.”
The executive previously said it’s clear to him that Democrats pushed through the bill to improve their chances of winning local elections. In June, he called the move anti-democratic, illegal, borderline corrupt and “complete BS.”
“You’re doing it in the dark of night on the last day of session?” McMahon said in June.
The vote came near the end of an all-night session in the Senate as one of the Legislature’s final acts of the year. The bill was delivered to the governor Dec. 12.
The president of the New York Association of Counties also opposed the measure, along with about half of the county leaders in the state, McMahon said.
The law switches elections for county executives, county legislators, town supervisors and town elected officials from odd to even years.
New York City, like all cities including Syracuse, would be exempt from the change.
McMahon, who begins a new term in January, would be allowed to serve a full four-year term until the 2027 election.
The winner of the 2027 election would serve only three years before a new election is called in 2030, according to a spokesperson for Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, the bill’s sponsor. The elections would then take place every four years in even-numbered years.
Candidates in local races would appear at the bottom of the ballot, below those campaigning for federal and state offices. Critics of the change said it would mean that local issues would be overshadowed by the attention focused on statewide and national issues.
The timing for city and village elections, and elections for district attorneys, judges and county clerks would remain unchanged. The state constitution requires those elections to be held in odd-numbered years.