Citizens Union reports concludes even-year elections would benefit NYC
In addition to voting for a new mayor in November, New Yorkers will also have a chance to weigh in on a controversial proposal for the city to move its municipal elections to even-numbered years to coincide with state and federal elections. And Citizens Union is out with a new report explaining why top concerns from the proposal’s opponents are largely unfounded, even as a similar change to municipal elections in other parts of the state continues to face opposition.
On the back of the ballot for New York City voters in November is Proposal 6, which pitches a change to the City Charter to move city elections from odd-numbered years (2023, 2025, etc.) to even-numbered years (2024, 2026, etc.). The change would align local elections with higher-profile federal races, when overall turnout tends to be higher. To actually enact the shift, state lawmakers and voters would still need to approve a state constitutional amendment. But the results of the ballot referendum this year would offer insight into how popular the idea is.
One major concern with consolidation is that crowded ballots could lead to ballot dropoff – with the contests at the top of the ticket getting the most votes and the numbers dwindling the further down one goes to less high-profile races that may have received less attention or that voters care less about. In an odd-year election, the mayoral contest tops the ballot in New York City as the biggest election. If the city moved its elections to even-numbered years, then the mayoral election would appear much lower on the ballot, beneath federal and state races – which could lead to fewer voters bothering to vote for mayor or in other city races
The new report from Citizens Union analyzed voter data and concluded that those worries are overblown. It looked at votes cast for ballot proposals in even years, the items that tend to see the highest levels of dropoff rates, and compared them to those cast for mayoral races in odd years. The ballot in the city had six proposals included last year. The first ballot proposal received 2.4 million votes, which the report pointed out is more than double the 1.1 million votes cast for mayor in 2021. Even the proposal at the very bottom of the back of the ballot in 2024 received more votes than those cast for mayor in 2021.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/10/citizens-union-reports-concludes-even-year-elections-would-benefit-nyc/408624/?oref=csny-homepage-top-story