For Immediate Release
Contact: Jake Oliver, jake@anatgerstein.com, 347 361 9983
New York, N.Y. (June 13, 2023) – Citizens Union releases the following statement from Executive Director Betsy Gotbaum following the passage of S3505B (Skoufis)/A4282A (Paulin), which moves certain local elections outside of New York City to even-numbered years. In January of this year, Citizens Union released Moving Municipal Elections to Even-Numbered Years, a report detailing the benefits of consolidating New York City’s municipal elections with presidential or gubernatorial elections:
“Moving local elections to even-numbered years will dramatically increase voter turnout and make the electorate more representative of the population. This represents an important step to strengthen local democracy by encouraging more people to vote. We encourage Governor Hochul to sign this bill into law.”
“We thank the bill sponsors, Senator James Skoufis and Assemblymember Amy Paulin, for their work on this legislation, and we are encouraged to hear that they are committed to bringing a constitutional amendment that would move city elections to even-numbered years. We look forward to working with them to pass such an amendment next session.”
About Citizens Union
For 125 years, Citizens Union has been a force for transparency, accountability, and ethics in New York’s City and State governments. A nonpartisan organization, some of our current initiatives include a new agenda for police accountability, monitoring the City Council’s redistricting process, and increasing civic engagement. Learn more at www.citizensunion.org.
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