Long Island officials slam even-year elections law and state government for enacting it

In a show of unified opposition to the even-year elections law, dozens of Long Island elected officials gathered outside Farmingdale Village Hall this afternoon to slam the law and the New York State for enacting it.

Nassau and Suffolk counties, joined many other municipalities in the state in a lawsuit to block the law, enacted by the state in 2023, intended to force all local elections outside of New York City to take place in even-numbered years. 

The stated purpose of the law was to increase voter participation in local elections, which are almost always held in odd-numbered years and see significantly lower turnout. Proponents of the law argue that aligning local elections with contests for president, Congress, and the state legislature are on the ballot will draw more attention—and more voters—to local issues.

A State Supreme Court judge in Onondaga County, where the lawsuit was brought, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Last week, the lower court’s decision was overturned by an Appellate Division panel.  The plaintiffs filed notice of appeal, seeking a ruling from the State Court of Appeals, New York’s top state court. 

MORE COVERAGE: Appellate court upholds even-year election law, ruling it will take effect for 2025 vote

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine were joined by officials from Long Island towns and villages, including Riverhead — nearly all Republicans — to slam the law as a politically motivated power grab by a state government run amuck under Democratic one-party rule and domination by New York City.

The officials decried the law as overreach. They said moving local elections to even years would result in local issues being eclipsed by federal and state issues and local candidates  essentially getting lost on a very lengthy ballot that will overwhelm many voters.

Blakeman called the law “imperial” and “totalitarian.”  

“There are issues that are important to the towns and villages and cities and county government that are separate and apart from federal and state issues, and now our state officials are trying to drown us out. They’re trying to take the local issues and put them down the ballot so that people don’t have an opportunity to have a fair debate and talk about the issues that are important to county government, town government, city government and village government,” Blakeman said.

“Local issues will get drowned out by national and state media,” he said.

“What is this all about? It’s about state control, the state trying to run our counties, towns, villages and cities from Albany with one-party rule,” Blakeman said. “This isn’t Beijing, this isn’t Moscow, it’s not Caracas, it’s not Havana. This is the United States of America, and our issues are entitled to get a full hearing from the electorate and for people to know who their elected officials are and the candidates they are for local government. This is simply outrageous,” Blakeman said.

“We saw how the state government under Governor Hochul tried to take over local zoning and take it away from our towns, our cities and our villages,” he said. 

“The State Government wants to take control of everything, like the Politburo, but we’re going to stand here together, strong and proud and relentless, and say we’re not going to take any more of this,” he said. 

“Between Nassau and Suffolk…we send up over $13 billion more to Albany than we get back… Everything goes to New York City. Nothing goes to us. That’s because of one-party rule. That’s because our government in Albany just cares about New York City,” Blakeman charged.

Romaine agreed. He said Long Island does not get its fair share of funding from the state, specifically citing the Environmental Bond Act and the federal infrastructure law as examples. He said Suffolk County has gotten no funds yet from either source.

Romaine also said the law will upend the term limits enacted in Suffolk County and in many towns because it changes terms of office. In order to sync local elections with state and federal balloting in even-numbered years, the new law requires any official with a four-year term of office that’s up for election in 2025 to be elected to a three-year term and any office with a two-year term to be elected to a one-year term. 

Term limits “were approved by referendum by the people of Suffolk County, and the state now wants to wave that away and by state resolution,  change our terms,” Romaine said.

The supervisors of the Town of Oyster Bay and the Town of Brookhaven also spoke. 

“In my opinion, it’s outrageous, it’s unethical, and it’s got to stop,” Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said. “Albany is trying to run shotgun over our elections, trying to confuse the voters, trying to throw a smoke screen out while they give us less and less, while our residents deserve more and more,” he said,” Saladino said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a duplicitous state,” Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said. “There’s no other way to say it. Almost every facet of New York State government is duplicitous, and you don’t have to go too far back in time to understand what unfolded with congestion pricing for the purposes of the election, then to only reappear after the election,” he said. “Everything that’s been said here today is 100% correct.”

Panico blamed state policies for New York losing population. And as a result, New York “is losing clout,” he said. “In Washington, we are losing congressional representation.” 

He spoke to suburban Democrats. “Let me tell you, the people who run New York State, predominantly as the boroughs, bear no resemblance to you in ideology, and if they are successful in pushing local issues that we, all of us, care about off of the ballot and push us out of office, then the blame lies squarely with you, for sitting on your hands,” Panico said.

“The struggle on Long Island is no longer Republican versus Democrat. It is those with an urban agenda that contrasts …with a suburban agenda,” he said.

Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard, Council Members Bob Kern and Denise Merrifield and Town Attorney Erik Howard were present at the press conference. 

Hubbard said in an interview last week after the Appellate Division issued its decision overturning the lower court, that the appellate court decision was “a horrible decision.”

“I think it’s going to cast a shadow over the local elections, making us go on even years with the bigger federal and state elections. It’s just going to overshadow the local issues,” Hubbard said. “And I’m very disappointed that that came out that that came out that way.”

Editor’s note: This article was amended for clarification after its initial publication.