Some local elections will be moved to even-numbered years under a bill passed by the New York State Legislature.
State legislators who supported the bill said the move was made to increase voter participation.
Elected officials in the middle of a term would be allowed to finish out their time in office, and those elected in an odd-numbered year after 2025 would have their term reduced so the office will be up for election again in the following even-year election.
The mandate would not apply to city elections, nor for specific elected offices protected in the state Constitution to be held in odd-numbered years, including county clerk, sheriff, district attorneys, local judges and others.
Chautauqua County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Brian Abram said he could see there being voter confusion, “Candidates having their terms shortened is a concern. The size of the ballot and the amount of information that’s being digested by the voter on an even-year cycle will be a concern, so as we look forward at it we see some obstacles that will have to be ironed out.”
Abram said it’s unlikely that there will be any cost savings due to there still being county-wide elections in odd-numbered years and those elections come with fixed costs, “When you’re doing a county-wide process, a judge, family court judge, a supreme court, anything that you’re doing you’re open for every poll site, you’re open for early voting, you’re open and doing all your things, the major parties are involved, it’s a fixed cost and labor, it’s trucking, it’s ballot and machines.”
Abram said the only options to reduce costs would be to permanently close a polling site or not have early voting. He said there could even be potential added costs in even-numbered years if the size of the ballot has to be increased due to more offices being up for election that year, “In house, we print and we save Chautauqua County taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars every year by taking on that responsibility. You outsource that same ballot and the price probably goes up not double, triple, quadruple, but beyond that. In house printing is very cost effective. Sourcing it and buying from a vendor is very expensive.”
State Senator George Borrello voted against the bill, saying it won’t give “local races a higher profile. The reality would be the opposite: local candidates’ platforms and messages would be lost in the flood media coverage and paid ads for state and federal candidates.”
The bill still needs final approval from Governor Kathy Hochul and as of today, had still not been sent to the Governor’s Office for signature.
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