Op-Ed: Local Elections Enshrined for the People

The following opinion was shared by New York State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Rockland, Orange), who chairs the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations.

Ed Day: Your Napoleon Complex is showing. The County Executive recently penned an op-ed suggesting that I failed my constituents by sponsoring legislation to move town and county elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, when substantially higher voter turnout is realized with presidential or gubernatorial races on the ballot. Calling this bill a failure is a spectacularly bad take - not to mention bizarre and unhinged. At a time with so many challenges facing Rockland County, this is the issue he opens the year ranting and raving about? The reason, of course, is he’s acting out of political self-interest and, having lost the debate and the bill now signed into law, is now throwing a temper tantrum befitting a small child.

The facts: A study conducted by the Harvard Election Law Clinic, where researchers analyzed 16 New York counties, including Sullivan, Ulster, Orange, and Rockland, found that off-cycle (odd-year) elections significantly depressed voter turnout. This was true for all voters, but especially for voters of color and younger voters.

In 2020, turnout rates from voters of color was 85% of the turnout rate of white voters, whereas in 2021—for the local election where Mr. Day was elected to his third term—the turnout rate from voters of color was a mere 54% of the turnout rate of white voters.

Likewise younger voters (aged 18-35) are far less likely to turn out in off-year elections. According to the same study, in 2020, youth turnout was 77% of the turnout rate of voters 65+. In 2021, the same age group only turned out at a rate of 23% to turnout of voters of 65+.

What this “failure” of a bill intends to do is lean into what people are already doing—showing up to vote on even years. Ed Day portrays this novel concept as “stealing” local elections - language befitting a January 6 insurrectionist who continues to deny the legitimacy of elections.

We want to get a critical mass of the true electorate on Election Day. So the question is—why isn’t that what Ed Day wants, too?

Why doesn’t he want more people to vote? And why is he so furious about the idea of younger, more diverse New Yorkers casting their votes in his local elections that he’s spending his time as County Executive—not working to lower property taxes, not advancing educational opportunities in Rockland County, not improving infrastructure, not standing up for his volunteer firefighters who continue to criticize him for lax building code enforcement—but writing op-eds about which year you’ll vote for him to regain office.

That’s because you will likely continue to see his name on that ballot. Despite his 2014 promise to “self-limit” by seeking only two terms as County Executive, in 2022, Mr. Day was sworn in for a third term. This was, it must be noted, after the election that saw a stark drop-off in voters of color and young voters. Perhaps this is the root of Mr. Day’s true concern. Perhaps this is why he penned his rant. To him, the new law to move county elections to even-years threatens his ability to continue breaking his 2014 promise to voters.

What must anger “Two-Term Ed” - and Congressman Mike Lawler who has also lit his hair on fire over this legislation - even further is the fact that people of all stripes, all parties, and all regions of the state strongly disagree with his position: According to a June 2023 Siena College poll, Democrats, Republicans, and Independent voters agreed better than 2-to-1 that moving elections to even years would be good for New York. That is the will of the people. This bill was introduced, and passed the Assembly and the Senate because it is the will of the people. It was not rushed or forced through. The concept has legislatively been around for a full decade—the same amount of time Mr. Day has been in public office as County Executive, giving him ample time to make his opinion on the subject known.

The vote is a foundational right to every eligible New Yorker, and despite any protestations from nervous local officials grown too comfortable with the status quo, it is my duty to continue to fight to make elections free, fair, and accessible.

It is past time for this frightened County Executive to leave office. Whether that happens of his own volition, or in an election where a larger, more representative electorate votes him out. If this new law helps rid Rockland County of his temper tantrums, even better.

Vox populi, vox Dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God, Mr. Day. If your concern is truly with the will of the people, let them vote.

SEE Ed Day's column on Patch: Local Elections Stolen From The People