Guest Editorial: Tioga County Legislature opposes the New York Legislature’s move to destroy local election traditions with unnecessary law change

In June, with little fanfare or public notice, the State Legislature passed a bill (S.3505-B/A.4282-B) that would change the dates of most local elections to even numbered years. If Governor Hochul approves the legislation and signs the bill into law, these local elections would be held simultaneously with national and state elections. 

Martha Sauerbrey, chair of the Legislature, and the entire Legislature were unanimous in their opposition to this change and passed a resolution on July 11, 2023, urging the Governor to veto this bill, and sent it to Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.  

“We must persuade the Governor not to codify this radical change to local elections,” said Chairwoman Sauerbrey. 

She added, “We did not ask for this change, in fact, leaders and elected officials in many communities are strongly against it. The move is the definition of top-down micromanagement by the State.”  

The stated purpose of this legislation is to increase participation in local elections because, traditionally, even numbered years have higher voter turnout due to broader interest in federal and statewide elections. The legislation also claims it will save money for local governments by consolidating election operations. 

These claims sound good on the surface, but they are not true. Rather than draw more voters to the local elections on the ballot, local issues will be overshadowed by the state and national elections. Divisive partisan politics will take center stage and overshadow substantive debate on important local issues that have a more direct effect on voters’ everyday lives. 

The elections affected by the legislation would primarily be for town offices (e.g., Town Supervisor, Town Board member, Town Clerk, Highway Superintendent) and county offices (e.g. County Treasurer, County Clerk, Sheriff, and County Legislator). 

“For more than 100 years local governments across the State have had the right to determine the timing of their elections by way of Municipal Home Rule Law. If we wanted to change our elections from odd to even-numbered years, we could have,” said Sauerbrey, who has been a Tioga County Legislator since 2006.