Republicans say date change usurps sovereignty
The Dutchess County Legislature on Monday (April 8) approved spending up to $100,000 to challenge a state law that moves most county and town elections to even-numbered years.
The vote passed, 14-7, along party lines in the Republican-led body. Four legislators were absent.
The allocation was part of a resolution that called the law, enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, a violation of municipal independence. The law requires many county and town officials to run for office simultaneously with state and federal candidates, although races for sheriffs, district and county attorneys, clerks and county judges are exempt. It supersedes charters in Dutchess and other counties that place their elections in odd-numbered years.
Under the change, officials in office on Jan. 1, 2025, will complete their full terms, but those elected after Jan. 1, 2025, will have their terms shortened. Dutchess County legislators, who serve two-year terms and were last elected in November, will run for re-election in 2025 but the winners will only serve until 2026.
The next election for Dutchess County executive, a four-year position, will take place in 2027 before switching to 2030.
Proponents argue that the change will increase voter turnout, but Republican legislators in Dutchess say it violates the “home-rule” rights of local governments outlined in the state constitution and will divert attention from local campaigns.
Statewide, the turnout was 64 percent for the 2020 general election, which included the races for president, the U.S. House and state Legislature, compared to 25 percent for local elections in 2021, Hochul noted when she signed the bill. In Dutchess, turnout was 78 percent in 2020 but only 34 percent for both a Supreme Court judge race in 2021 and the county executive race in 2023.
In a statement, Yvette Valdés Smith, a county legislator who is the minority leader and whose district includes part of Beacon, dismissed the vote as a waste of money.
If it survives legal challenges by Dutchess and other counties, the law will move the election for two of the four Philipstown Town Board seats, the highway commissioner and the clerk from 2031 to 2030 and for the supervisor from 2027 to 2026.
The move does not affect the Putnam County executive, whose four-year term is on the ballot in even-numbered years and next up in 2026, or Putnam legislators, who serve three-year terms. The law exempts villages, such as Cold Spring and Nelsonville, and in cities, such as Beacon, elections can only be changed through a constitutional amendment.
