New York’s Off-Year Elections Plan is More Partisan Damage Control

We pride ourselves on election coverage here at The Messenger. If you read us religiously from August until Election Day this year, you probably thought we sounded like a broken record once or twice, as we discussed the crucial and intrinsic importance of local elections, the necessity of political conscientiousness and political participation, and the separation of partisanship in favor of practical solutions.

New York’s latest plan to align local off-year elections with the even-numbered elections dilutes the above ideal values of a politically conscious society. The even-numbered election years constitute the more high-profile and big-ticket elections, such as the presidency, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and most state legislative and gubernatorial races. In New York, the latter State Assembly, State Senate, and governor’s mansion are all on the ballot in even-numbered years, with the state legislature up every two years and the governor up every four.

The off-year elections are held in the odd-numbered years. These races are almost entirely local, with the exceptions of a few states. New York is not one of them. Just as we saw this past November, the odd-numbered year elections encompass hyper-local races that elect your officials who you can easily contact. Your county legislature, your town board or council, your town clerks and tax receivers, your town supervisors, and even your county executive were elected just a couple months ago. Almost all county-wide races were held this November, with a few exceptions town-side, such as three western townships that did not feature supervisor races.

Note that some county elections are held in even-numbered years, such as the positions of county clerk and county comptroller, but by and large, most local elections are held in the off-year.

Off-year elections have long been a tradition in New York and the United States for the reason that local politics do not become married with heavily nationalized politics. Especially in today’s day of hyperpartisanship, mass media polarization, and diminished ticket-splitting, national elections will inevitably have a down ballot effect on local races that may not accurately characterize local issues. While voters can certainly make good decisions at the ballot box, it is easy to be swayed by national overtones and vote a party-line ticket.

We see regularly that local races and the electeds who run in them are more easily classified by their local initiatives and prerogatives, rather than what the letter next to their name indicates. Our County Executive Ed Romaine ran on the Republican and Conservative line but received coveted environmental endorsements that are typically given to Democrats. Many local candidates across the county, especially in the eastern townships, are often cross-endorsed by both parties. The county legislature has demonstrated their abilities to work in a bipartisan manner and town boards can work with a supervisor of a different party. It happens more often than not and it does show that local politics proves local electeds are more than what the back of their baseball card says they are.

Why complicate, or even ruin, that dynamic by combining those highly localized, massively subjective, and interpersonal forms of political participation with the hot-button idiosyncrasies of a want-what-we-can’t-have national environment?

Some Democrats, including Suffolk’s own Senator Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood), from the Fourth District, says that the legislation will increase voter turnout, while the sponsor of the bill says that it will increase turnout among “young people and people of color.” Both mentioned “equity” being a concept on display with this legislation.

We fail to see how a lack of community outreach for two demographics who tend to leave heavily Democratic means the rules must be changed for local elections across the entire state of New York. Furthermore, a local election with relatively low turnout should only incentivize candidates to hit doors, attend town halls and meet-the-candidates nights, and guest appear at community events. In a perfect world, it’s what we expect from those candidates, and sometimes it’s not always the case. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and that was on full display in Suffolk’s Seventh Legislative District in 2021. While Presiding Officer Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) was expecting to coast to a sixth and final term, Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) had hit thousands of doors before it was apparent Calarco’s incumbency was endangered. Calarco ended up losing the election and Thorne has been a fierce advocate for every single one of his hamlets.

Not only would out-of-touch politicians like Calarco have the opportunities to be rewarded based purely on down ballot energy because of who’s running for president, but hard workers like Thorne would not be given nearly as many chances under the new system. Furthermore, the local elections are sacred in that your local officials in Hauppauge and Albany affect your life more than the people in Washington. The only exceptions to the federal electeds are your Representatives to the House.

Additionally, their premises assume that young people or minority voters will only vote when there are higher stakes on the ballot. What could be more insulting than lowering the expectations and thresholds for political participation based on demographic? Again, there is nothing stopping increased political turnout. In 2022, Republicans came within one percentage point of ousting Kimberly Jean-Pierre (D-Wheatley Heights) in the Eleventh Assembly District, one with multiple majority-minority communities. In years prior, Republicans had not come within twenty points of winning the district. Republicans did their job in messaging and appealing to communities of color, in what Martinez describes as “historically neglected” communities. It sounds like Democrats neglected that community and it almost cost them a supermajority in the Assembly.

Finally, the prevention of “voter fatigue” is a lame excuse. We understand media fatigue on certain issues, but expecting voters to be politically conscientious and participate every year to stay on top of the issues is the bare minimum. Somehow classifying that as a chore to shelf and not an intrinsic privilege guaranteed by the Constitution is an insult to the “democratic” process Democrats claim to revere.

Electeds constantly say that they work “365 days a year.” Why do they get to be paid by our tax dollars “365 days a year” but we shouldn’t be politically conscious for an equal amount of time?

Overall, we believe the sanctity of local elections should not have their oxygen sucked out of the room by the national races that may or may not have as large an impact on the local community. Your local town councilman should not have to wade through airwaves of Joe Biden or Donald Trump to pitch you his latest plan on sewers, and your state assemblywoman should not be less deserving of your attention than Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand. We think Democrats should stop trying to hide the obvious hemorrhaging in support they’re seeing across one of the bluest states in the country by trying to improve their prospects by packing the ballot.