NY Republicans make another bid to stop Hochul, Dems from moving local elections

ALBANY – New York Republicans are making a last-ditch bid to stop Democrats from moving most local elections outside New York City to even years, when voters turn out en masse to pick the president.

The State Republican Committee, along with GOP representatives and party committees from Nassau, Suffolk and Orange Counties, sued Gov. Kathy Hochul in federal court in another attempt to undo the 2023 law.

“The Even-Year Election Law is unconstitutional and undemocratic,” said William Brewer III, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

“It is an attempt to drown local voices, burden political speech, and erode the connection between voters and their local governments,” he said.

The lawsuit claims the state law that mandates shifting local races to even years violates the First Amendment and the Voting Rights Act.

Democrats pushed through the measure in the state Legislature ostensibly to boost voter turnout, since presidential and congressional elections typically see more people come out to the polls than odd-year local races.

“By coupling local elections to federal and statewide ballots, the [even year election law] systematically converts local races into low-information, partisan contests,” states the suit, filed Thursday in the Eastern District of New York.

“Voters default to party heuristics and identity prejudices, rather than candidate speech. This erases the ‘town square’ the First Amendment was designed to protect,” it states.

New York’s highest court smacked down an effort by the counties to toss out the law last month in a unanimous decision written by Judge Michael Garcia, a Republican, prompting the federal suit.

“Kathy Hochul and power-mad Democrats want to move local elections to even years to consolidate their control of government,” David Laska, a spokesperson for the state GOP, told The Post Friday.

“Republicans will pursue every avenue to give local issues the attention they deserve – because the government that governs closest to the people governs best,” he said.

Emma Wallner, a spokesperson for Hochul, said the Democratic governor “continues to champion New York’s even-year election legislation because she believes our state is stronger when more people have the opportunity to participate in government.”

“We won in court once, and we’ll do it again,” she said.

If the latest effort fails, the 2027 would be the first off cycle year without most local elections up for a vote.

The state law does not apply to New York City, but voters face a similar question on their ballots during the Nov. 4 election, asking them whether local elections should be moved to coincide with presidential years.

The concept is coming as a shock to even some of the Big Apple’s most notable lefty denizens.

“I honestly don’t understand why [New York City Mayor Eric Adams] wants to change when New Yorkers vote,” former Mayor Bill de Blasio squealed on X, Friday.

“I fear that moving to even-number years will take attention away from local issues and will advantage candidates with wealth or fame. I urge all New Yorkers to vote NO on Ballot Proposal 6,” he wrote.