ALBANY – Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C-Pulaski) issued the following statement on the election law bill signed into law today, by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The measure will move local elections to the same even-year schedule as state and federal elections.
“If ever a bill deserved a veto, this was it. And as a former elected official at the county level, the governor should have known better. Moving local elections to even-numbered years will completely shift the focus away from local candidates, campaigns and community concerns. Those critical elections will now be shoved aside and sent down-ballot by bigger races on statewide and national scales.
Despite Democrats’ disingenuous claims about increasing turnout, the motivation behind this bill has nothing to do with voter engagement or bringing more people to the polls. Their purpose is to move all elections to a date when Democrats perform better. New Yorkers see no benefit from this bill. Only Democratic politicians do.
Future elections happening in New York’s towns, villages and counties no longer have their own day – and that’s shameful. Gov. Hochul and her political allies wholly disregarded countless local officials and organizations who strongly opposed this out of concern that local elections simply can’t compete with the time and attention devoted to state and national campaigns.
Once again, New Yorkers are force-fed another major change to the election process as Democrats continue to rig the system for their benefit.”
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