Previously Published in The Messenger
Another election cycle has come and gone. The Thursday before the election, we published an editorial that recommended the voter embrace this year as the last odd-year election for local legislative and town races… because it was.
While speculation has swirled about just how the even-year elections law will affect races down ballot, we don’t really need to look too far ahead of last Tuesday’s results.
The Suffolk GOP held their own compared to the absolute fallout for Republicans across the country. But the blue tide still crept in, ousting one Suffolk County Legislator from North Fork and swiping some town-level races across the County. Moreover, Democrats had no competitive races to really worry about. Instead, Republicans with only paper opposition saw dramatically decreased margins – from Selden to Brightwaters to Centerport.
The main indictment we can find is not the even-year elections law itself – it’s not in effect until the ensuing cycles for the next few years – but the national environment dictated how voters cast their ballots, and to a drastic degrees.
We don’t disagree with voters retaining their prerogatives. We are certain there are plenty of voters who went with the Democrats for valid reasons. But these margins aren’t typical of a referendum election on the current local ensemble, especially one devoid of major scandals, PR hits, and rogue agents that sullied the local party’s name among the rank-and-file voters – at least not those that we can find.
Wave elections are also part and parcel to politics. You win some, you lose some – and sometimes, you win decisively or you lose embarrassingly.
But regardless of the context, who is president, or who is county executive, a national wave election shouldn’t dictate who wins on the ground in a local race. And in the blue state of New York, we know where most of the votes are going. High turnout elections are great, increased voter participation in minority communities is great, and a more informed electorate is great.
However, we’ve argued that this bill is the wrong engine, and that it’s nothing more than partisan damage control against the suburbanites who are fleeing the Democratic Party lock, stock, and barrel.
Moreover, New York City was exempt from the even-year elections law from the start. But last week, NYC’ers actually voted down the amendment to align their odd-year local elections with even-year presidential and midterm ones.
We don’t agree with any part of the state being conscripted to follow these laws, but if that was necessary, we argue that the constituency with the largest basket of minority voters, the largest population center on the Eastern seaboard, and one of the most higher educated places in the region is the one that should have had their timetable changed. Instead, they got a choice – and they rejected it.
New York City retains its electoral home rule and doesn’t have to squirm itself into the State’s newly shifted goalposts. The rest of the state, especially Suffolk, are already far too on the hook for comfort. If anything, it should have been a statewide constitutional amendment that voters could have approved or rejected on Election Day. And with how NYC voted – ironically, the right choice, in our opinion – would have likely ensured its sound failure last Tuesday.
But Suffolk Democratic Committee Chairman Rich Schaffer (D-North Babylon) is looking at the recently-passed Term Limit Preservation Act, sponsored by Suffolk County Legislature Republicans and unanimously passed with bipartisan support. Newsday has learned that the Democrats are researching whether the law is constitutionally able to remain on the books. It seems that internally, Suffolk Democrats are working from within suburban lines to ensure that the State party can consolidate control down the ballot.
The only reason they’re doubling down now – which Newsday seems to have failed to grasp – is how much their conceivable floor of support increased with this recent wave election.