Albany County Republican & Conservative Conference Agenda 

It is outrageous that state lawmakers are spending the last days of their legislative session completely upending our local elections and trying to erase any checks and balances left in New York.

Holding local elections in odd years helps put local issues front and center. Sadly, under this proposed law, those issues with a direct impact on voters’ lives will be a footnote to races for President, Governor and other major offices.

If this is truly about improving civic engagement or saving taxpayer money, as the sponsors claim, why are multiple local offices and municipalities exempted? And why not put this idea before the voters directly as a ballot referendum?

State and local Boards of Elections are unprepared for this change. Local residents are uninterested in this change. Counties are opposed to this change. Once again, state politicians are ignoring these valid concerns to put their own political interests first.