By Hank Russell
A New York State judge in Syracuse recently ruled that a state law moving local elections to even years was unconstitutional.
Onondaga County State Supreme Court Judge Gerard Neri said the law was in violation of the state constitution. Further, it trampled on the rights of local governments. Republicans said this was a victory for voting rights, while Democrats said the ruling would continue a pattern of low voter turnout.
The new voting law would not have affected the New York City elections, or those for county district attorney, since those have already been enshrined in the state constitution.
The bill was introduced by State Senator James Skoufris (D-Cornwall) that shifts elections for certain offices from odd- to even-numbered years, In 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law, which was scheduled to go into effect next year. But a lawsuit was filed, challenging the law. Among the plaintiffs were Suffolk and Nassau Counties and the Towns of Hempstead, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and North Hempstead.
In his decision, Neri wrote that the “prerequisites of a special law were not followed.” He also dismissed the defendants’ claims that even-numbered voting would boost turnout, stating that it “fails to account for the specific down ballot local races that will be affected. … [S]imply because one enters the polling booth does not guarantee that the individual will participate in all races.”
Neri also stated in his ruling that the down ballot elections would be overshadowed by the federal races. “Be it in the local paper, television, radio, online, or one’s mailbox, the competition for a voter’s attention is fierce,” he wrote. “New York and the Plaintiff Counties are home to some of the most competitive House of Representative races, and with that competition comes massive spending on advertising. There is simply no way local races can compete and obtain media attention, paid or earned, in that maelstrom.”
Local elected officials were divided down party lines. “It’s good to see common sense prevail,” said Assemblyman Michael Durso (R-Massapequa Park). “Rejecting this gross overreach of power by Albany bureaucrats to influence the outcome of our local elections was the right decision.”
Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) called the ruling “laughable.”
Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C,I-Pulaski) said the decision was “a tremendous victory for localities and for the voters of New York” and blasted the law as being ‘another blatant overreach by Albany Democrats, who prefer to follow their own political playbook rather than the state Constitution.”
“Local elections have direct, significant impacts on our hometowns and neighborhoods,” Barclay added. “There was never a credible reason to change the election cycle and move local candidates and issues to the bottom of the ballot, under the weight of statewide and presidential races.”