State’s high court declines to hear appeal of case that struck down ‘even-year election law’

Local elections across New York State will continue to take place in odd-numbered years — at least for now — as a legal challenge to a new state law works its way through the courts.

The “even-year election law,” signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2023, would have required most local elections outside New York City to be held in even-numbered years, starting with elections in 2025.

The stated goal of the measure was to boost voter participation in local elections, according to Democrats, who control both legislative chambers and pushed for its adoption. The bill was vehemently opposed by state Republicans, who argued it was an attack on local control in counties outside of New York City.

MORE COVERAGE: New state law changes local election years to align with federal and state elections after 2025

Several upstate counties, along with Nassau and Suffolk counties and various towns and organizations, sued to have the law invalidated.

In October 2024, a State Supreme Court judge in Onondaga County struck down the law, ruling it unconstitutional. The judge found that the law violated “home rule” protections in the state constitution, which allow local governments to decide how and when to conduct their elections. The court also upheld parts of existing county charters that require elections to be held in odd-numbered years.

The state attorney general appealed that decision in early November and asked the New York Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — to take the case directly, bypassing the Appellate Division. The goal was to get a final ruling before the 2025 election cycle.

But on March 18, the Court of Appeals announced it declined to take the case. It said the appeal must be heard by the Appellate Division, the state’s mid-level appeals court, which has jurisdiction. A direct appeal to the Court of Appeals is only allowed when a case raises purely constitutional questions, the court noted in a brief statement.

That means the case will now be heard by the Appellate Division’s Fourth Department, and a final resolution is unlikely before this year’s elections.

Under the law, the terms of local offices would have been adjusted to accommodate the new election schedule. In towns like Riverhead, where the supervisor serves a two-year term, the 2025 election would have chosen a supervisor for just one year. A two-year term would then resume with the 2026 election. Similar adjustments were planned for town council positions and other local offices to align all local elections with state and federal elections in even-numbered years. The law did not affect the offices of sheriff, district attorney, county clerk and county judges, whose terms are set by the state constitution.

The 2025 election process has been moving forward under current election law. Candidates for offices with two- and four-year terms are now gathering signatures on designating petitions. The petitions must be filed with the county board of elections from March 31 to April 3.

Locally, the Riverhead Town Board took steps to preserve its election schedule regardless of the outcome in court. On Nov. 19, the board passed a local law requiring town elections to be held in odd-numbered years, as they are now. That law, asserting the town’s home rule authority, has not been challenged in court.