Voting year for local elections shifts to 2026

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation aligning many odd-year local elections with statewide and legislative elections that are held in even-numbered years.

Hochul believes the bill will expand access to voting, and make it easier for New Yorkers to vote in local elections that directly impact their lives and the communities they live in.

The change will begin in 2026. The law will mean that elections for county executive, county legislatures and town board seats will be held at the same time as voting for state and federal offices.

The bill has been met with opposition from Long Island Republicans, who say the shift will take the focus away from local candidates and drown out local issues.

“The Association of Counties and hundreds of local officials throughout the state oppose this change in law,” Republican Joseph Saladino, supervisor for the Town of Oyster Bay, wrote in a statement, “as federal elections will now overshadow hyperlocal issues in our neighborhoods while creating a 35-line ballot that causes significant drop off in voter participation.”

Jake Blumencranz, the Republican state assemblyman for District 15, agreed, adding that he thinks Long Island’s local elections focus heavily on local issues.

“When you have a ballot with however many people will be on it in an election year, it’ll be an awfully long ballot,” he said, “and an awful lot of issues being lumped into one, which I think is a net negative for many of the residents.”

Democrat Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, the minority leader at the Nassau County Legislature, said it would be “a little bit daunting” to have to run in 2025 and again in 2026, she was “prepared to do it” if it meant more people would vote in local elections.

“In my opinion it makes sense because I think people get election fatigue,” she said. “We still get a low turnout in Nassau County, and I always get frustrated when I see that, regardless of who wins, because I think it’s basically an obligation for us all to research and vote as citizens.”

According to the governor’s office, the legislation will impact all elections for which dates can be changed through legislative action — changing election dates for certain offices, including judgeships and offices in any city, must be done through a constitutional amendment.

“Gov. Hochul also announced her support for a future amendment to the New York State Constitution that would align elections for all offices — a fiscally responsible approach that would reduce the taxpayer cost of election administration by avoiding the need for elections to be held every single year,” a release from the governor’s office further states.

This would include elections in Glen Cove, which was not otherwise affected by the recent legislation. Pamela Panzenbeck, a Republican and mayor of Glen Cove, said that while she needs to do more research on the legislation to make a full opinion, her initial thoughts are that a potential amendment change will not improve election turnout, and will instead hurt voters.

“It’s really not a great idea, and I don’t know what the purpose behind it is,” Panzenbeck said. “To me, (the current system) seems to have worked well.”

According to the release, elections in odd-numbered years increases the cost of participating in the voting process, particularly for voters who may have a difficult time arranging for time off of work and traveling to their polling site. It also asserted that other states had made similar changes in recent years, and have seen increased voter turnout as a result.

The bill also aims to increase voter turnout, which is historically much lower during local election years. For example, millions more New Yorkers participated in elections in 2020 with an approximate 64 percent voter turnout. In 2021, only 25 percent of eligible voters turned out to take part in local elections around the state.

Chuck Lavine, the Democrat assemblymember for Assembly District 13, said the law is “a no brainer” and that he fully supports it as a way to make the voting process more accessible to a majority of the county’s residents.

“The turnout for these elections is embarrassingly low, and the more difficult we make it for citizens to vote, the fewer people vote,” Lavine continued. “It’s no secret that democracy is best served when the greatest number of people participate.”