A New York Board of Elections Commissioner, Anthony Casale, published a letter against the New York Even Year Election Law stating, “Since statewide, congressional and legislative races are listed first on the ballot, local offices will be relegated to the very end. While there may be more people voting, historical data confirms there is always some fall off as the voter moves from left to right on the ballot. As a result, local elections will suffer.”

Minority Assembly Leader, Will Barclay, published an op-ed stating, “Pushing local candidates and concerns into even years and further down the ballot trivializes their importance, both literally – as some races are left blank on lengthy ballots; and figuratively – as the sheer volume in presidential and gubernatorial campaigns overwhelms races that struggle to be heard.”

“Holding local elections alongside federal and state races undermines the independence and integrity of town government,” claimed Christopher Koetzle, Executive Director of the New York Association of Towns. They support overturning the law.

Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar said the law “defies logic as well as any meaningful efforts to provide citizens with the ability to focus on what will be an overwhelming number of dissimilar issues,” calling it a “clearly political action by the democratically controlled state government.” He said the law is a “clearly political action by the Democratically controlled state government.”