At the February session of the Onondaga County Legislature, there was a resolution that appeared the day before on their agenda that gave the County Executive $100,000 of taxpayer money to sue the state over moving elections to even years to increase turnout. I attended the legislative session and gave a public comment against the resolution. Unfortunately the legislature still voted on this rushed resolution and it passed with 11 Republicans voting for it & 5 Democrats against.
Here are my comments:
Good afternoon, I am Elaine Denton, a resident of the Town of Manlius and former Town of Manlius Town Councilor.
As a town councilor, I advocated for this bill to be signed by the Governor last year and I am glad she did.
70% of Onondaga County voters stay home in odd year elections. 70% did not vote! By moving local elections to even years, New York State has passed a common sense change to our elections to strengthen New York’s democracy in a smart and practical way. This will reduce voter fatigue and save taxpayer’s money. In even-year elections turnout increases dramatically across parties which means participation in our Democracy increases. All good things. This change is good for all voters whether you are a Republican, Democrat or unaffiliated with a party.
If you support Democracy, Vote No on resolution 4a that amends the county budget to allocate $100,000 of taxpayer money for a frivolous lawsuit.
If you support fiscal responsibility, Vote No on resolution 4a as these costs are just the beginning to an expensive lawsuit taxpayers would be paying to both litigate and defend.
If you voted to amend the County Charter last year striking mentions of “corrections”, vote no on resolution 4a. And instead make an amendment to change “odd” to “even” in the county charter. An easy zero-cost fix as it is only mentioned once.
An option that should have been discussed in a committee meeting before coming to the legislature for a vote. But once again Ryan McMahon has no respect for your process or interest in giving the public or the legislature time to comment and discuss. Instead this resolution was added as a last minute addition the day before the session telling you to use our taxpayer money to keep Democracy at barely 30% in Onondaga county.
I hope that you will put partisan politics aside and support increasing voter turnout for everyone. Please vote No on resolution 4a.
Thank you.
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