Election Timing Across the Country

Timing Across the Country

Despite changes in timing around the country, most of America still holds off-cycle elections.  Almost half of all states require off-cycle municipal elections (Sightline 2024).  Nineteen other states allow but do not require municipalities to hold on-cycle elections (Sightline 2024). And in most of those ‘city-choice’ states the clear majority of cities continue to hold-off cycle contests.  All told, roughly 60 percent of the nation’s cities hold their local elections on off-cycle dates that bring a small and unrepresentative set of voters. Timing in each state is listed in the figure below.

As the table shows there are 24 states in the nation where off-cycle elections are currently mandated by law.  Those states are Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Of the 19 ‘city choice’ states, 6 already have on-cycle contests in most of their big cities.  Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming mostly hold their local elections on the same dates as statewide and/or federal elections. But in 13 of the ‘city choice’ states, the majority of cities continue to hold off-cycle local contests.  The 13 states with mostly off-cycle dates are Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.

Across the nation, among the 165 large cities in the 19 city choice states, only 64 cities have opted for on-cycle elections.  Many of the largest cities that could change their own timing are listed in the figure below.