By moving local elections to even years, New York State has passed a common sense change to our elections to strengthen New York’s democracy in a smart and practical way. In even-year elections turnout increases dramatically across parties which means participation in our Democracy increases. This change is good for all voters whether you are a Republican, Democrat, in a third party or not registered in a party.
Since Onondaga County moving forward with an expensive lawsuit using $100,000 of taxpayer money to sue New York State to stop this new law. We looked into the data since local elections sometimes occur in even years due to resignations, appointments, etc. When comparing these races turnout was higher in 2022 compared to 2023 in every race. Voter turnout was up to 263% higher in an even year election than odd.
Races in the City of Syracuse and in the suburbs across Onondaga County saw an increase in voter turnout in 2022 vs 2023. FYI the City of Syracuse is exempted from the new law and their elections will remain in odd years at this time as a constitutional amendment is needed to move these elections.
The same candidates ran in the Town of Manlius in 2022 and 2023 for Town Councilor. Both candidates saw a 170% increase in turnout in 2022 vs 2023.
Across the county, more voters came out to vote in local election races 2022 than in 2023. Look at the Town of Van Buren!
In the Town of Pompey, the same candidate ran for highway superintendent in 2022 and in 2023, and saw 170% more votes in 2022.
Remember this in 2025 when all Onondaga County legislators will be up for reelection because this new law will take time to implement. Meaning we still have at least 2 more odd years elections (2025 & 2027) to go through before these races move to even years.
Some additional races like judges will need a constitutional amendment to move to even years, which means it will eventually come before the voters.