New York is moving certain local elections—town supervisor, council members, county executive—to even-numbered years, meaning they will coincide with statewide and federal elections. Changes to town and county judicial elections require a constitutional amendment, as do city elections, so the biggest impact in the area will be on town supervisors and council members. Depending on term lengths, 2025 and 2027 will be the final odd-year elections for thousands of elected positions across the state. While elections will still occur later this year, terms may be cut short (one year instead of two) with voters returning in 2026 for the same seats.
The goal is to increase democratic engagement in our elections. Voter turnout in even- and odd-year general elections varies dramatically, as documented by the Monroe County Board of Elections.
Moreover, turnout in odd-year elections has been steadily declining, falling to 30 percent in the last two, 2021 and 2023—43 points lower than the 2024 general election.
Importantly, voter turnout is only one measure of civic engagement. Turnout is calculated with registered voters as the denominator, but does not take into account the many people in our community who are eligible to vote, but are not registered. The confusion involved with varying dates, times and polling places surely discourages many citizens from registering to vote in the first place.
Consolidating the calendar
Eliminating elections in odd years should help improve turnout. But we will continue to have a disjointed political calendar compared to most states.
New York Election Law directs that village elections be held on the third Tuesday in March—unless the third Tuesday happens to fall on St. Patrick’s Day, when the election shall be held on March 18 (seriously—look it up!). Villages may also elect to hold their elections at a different time; many hold general elections in June.
While larger municipalities hold school board elections on the November general election ballot, most town and village residents go to the polls in May. Special districts for fire and some other school votes occur in December and primaries for state and local offices are held separately from presidential primaries for no explicit reason (April and June).
As such, while the even-year local elections will help consolidate the calendar, voters may still have to go to the polls in New York up to five times a year and to different locations too.
Polling places and administration vary
Not only do elections occur at different times, but the polling places change. This is inevitable—but still confusing. School board and budget votes are held at school polling places while special district elections often occur at firehouses. These are, of course, different from county-administered elections held at churches, community centers, and many other places.
Special and school district votes, again excluding larger municipalities, are not administered by the county boards of elections, causing result reporting to be inconsistent along with absentee processes. Further consolidating these elections would increase trust in the system, boost turnout, and improve overall consistency.
While the county Board of Elections informs voters of polling places and dates and times of elections, school and fire districts post public notices on various websites or with town clerks. Voters not actively checking such websites would have no idea where to go or when.
Furthermore, school and special districts, due to their size and internal administration, are typically excluded from access initiatives and regulations applied to other elections across the state. Adding these elections to general ballots already administered by the Board of Elections would enable access to translation and language services that school and special districts are not always required to offer but are available for Board of Elections ballots.
Variations in law applying to such elections also limit absentee voting just as the state seeks to expand it for general elections.
Generally, fire districts only need to hold elections for three hours—from six in the evening to nine.
Case study: Greece
Calculating turnout for special elections, school districts, fire districts, etc. is difficult due to the inconsistent and non-centralized reporting. Let’s look at fire and school district elections in the town of Greece.
Fire districts see average turnout of less than half a percent. There were 68,454 registered voters in Greece as of 2024. That same year, only 316 people voted in the four main Greece fire district commissioner elections (excluding the Hilton-Parma district, which covers a portion of Greece), with 194 ballots cast in North Greece, 96 in Lakeshore, 16 in Ridge Road, and 10 in Barnard. The latter two contests were uncontested, a common situation in low-visibility elections. North Greece had a special bond issuance referendum in September which saw 64 people turn out. In 2023, North Greece saw 152, Barnard 11, and Hilton-Parma, 51.
Typically, candidates need 25 signatures from registered voters to get on a fire district ballot. Not even the 25 who signed a petition seem to have turned out in the Ridge Road and Barnard races.
The Greece Central School District indicated its average turnout is less than 10 percent. The district saw 3,991 voters turn out in 2023, 2,804 in 2024, and 3,379 in 2025.
In December 2024, Greece residents were expected to vote in both a school special election and annual fire commissioner elections on the same day, yet these were held at different times and in separate locations.
Some changes are controversial
A common criticism of consolidation of elections is the risk of overwhelming or confusing voters with lengthy ballots for dozens of positions they do not have the time or energy to investigate. However, today’s low turnout demonstrates how little attention is already paid to many of these offices. Putting them on an already-publicized ballot in November or combining local and state primaries with the presidential may increase media attention on all candidates and offices.
Another criticism is the “nationalization” of all positions. Voters who only select one party will be incentivized to vote all the way down one line for all candidates. While our school board races are ostensibly nonpartisan, endorsements and other factors already tie them into national perceptions. Voters should not be underestimated. They can decipher party affiliations and priorities of a candidate regardless of what letter is next to their name. If not, that is a different conversation to be had on voter education and civic awareness.
A report from the state comptroller’s office recognized these issues as systemic and persistent over decades, and further identified consequences: “This lack of civic awareness and participation can give rise to a lack of fiscal transparency, oversight, and accountability.”
It is feasible for us to increase turnout, reduce election administration costs, and increase trust and oversight of our voting system by holding elections only twice a year: We could hold all primaries and school votes in June and hold all general elections for local, state, federal, and special districts in November.
Such changes must be an act of the state and serve not to disenfranchise local communities or be perceived as “taking away power,” but rather an opportunity to better empower both elected officials and voters.
These elections should also all be administered by the same authority (e.g. the county boards of election) with the same processes and requirements, freeing up schools and fire districts to focus on their primary functions rather than administering their own elections. Instead of voters showing up five times a year to at least three different locations, they could show up twice to the same one with results clear and easy to digest, rather than posted sporadically on school and special district sites.
Once accomplished, it will also be easier to continue identifying opportunities to enhance our system perhaps through ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, or other innovative practices. It is our vote. Let’s find the best way to use it.
Kyle Rosenthal is a town of Greece resident who runs the local and state sustainability policy firm, Sustain With Age. He is on the board of the Climate Solutions Accelerator of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region and a fellow of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. All views expressed here are his own.
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