As N.Y. state law is upheld, off-year elections aren't really going anywhere just yet
New York’s recent election law change, moving many county and town races to even years in conjunction with presidential and gubernatorial races, was recently upheld in court and is set to begin impacting elections next year. Given the styling and terminology around the change, you may think you’re about to head out for your final off-year election, but in reality, a more thorough scrubbing of off-year elections from the calendar is at least a constitutional amendment away.
The law applies to some county and town offices and doesn’t impact constitutionally protected races like those in cities and even some at the county level. Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny told Spectrum News 1 that the Board of Elections and staff at polling places will still have plenty of work to do on Election Day 2027.
“There still will be significant elections,” he said. “In ’27 you’ll have some local elections that haven’t moved yet because they’re on four-year terms, so that may be their last year in there, your DAs, county clerks, and your judicial elections will be in there as well.”
Czarny said that while he expects one intended result of the move — higher turnout for the races which have been transplanted — to come to fruition, the other intended benefit — lower costs for local governments — will probably not be significant in the near term.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2025/10/28/off-year-elections-constitutional-amendment-