Public Support
The public’s views on election timing are clear. Most Americans favor on-cycle elections. They prefer voting in one election at one time rather than in multiple elections on different dates in different locations. That view is reflected both in public opinion surveys and in election outcomes.
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Public Opinion
Every survey that has examined views on election timing has found that a clear majority of Americans favor aligning local elections with federal contests. The first nationally representative poll about election timing found that “Nearly 70 percent [of Americans] said they favored holding local elections at the same time as national elections” (Anzia 2014: 88).1 Subsequent national surveys have led to similar results. A majority of Americans (55 percent) wanted to consolidate local, state, and federal elections in a 2020 survey by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study. Only 11 percent opposed the move. One year later, an Education Next survey revealed a similar majority (60 percent) in favor of the move to on-cycle elections.
Regional studies reveal similar patterns. Public opinion polls in Washington State (2021), New York State (2023), Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin (2024) all show majority support for alignment and relatively limited opposition (Northwest Progressive Instiute 2021, Sienna College 2023, New Bridge 2024). Likewise, a majority of New York City residents (61 percent) indicated that they support holding city elections on the same day as elections for Congress or President in even numbered years (Manhattan Institute 2024)
1 The exact question wording was: “In most states, elections for local government offices like mayor, city council member, and school board member are held on different days than elections for national government offices like US president and US senator. Some people favor having local elections on different days than national elections, because it allows voters to focus on a shorter list of candidates and issues during each election. Other people favor having local elections on the same day as national elections, because combining the elections boosts voter turnout for local elections. What do you think? Do you think local elections should be held on the same day as national elections or different days than national elections?”
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Nonpartisan Support
The other consistent pattern worth highlighting in these polls is the nonpartisan nature of support for on-cycle elections. Each of these national and regional polls has revealed widespread support among Democratic, Republicans, and independents. The first national survey, for example, found that clear majorities of Americans of all partisan stripes (Democrat, Independent, or Republican) preferred on-cycle elections. As the figure below reveals, 73 percent of self-identified Democrats, 65 percent of Independents, and 61 percent of Republicans all supported the shift to even year elections. The same is true for ideology. These surveys consistently show that majorities of liberals, conservatives, and moderates prefer on-cycle contests.
CCES 2008 in Anzia (2014)
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The widespread support for on-cycle elections across almost all segments of the American public is displayed in this figure based on likely voters in New York City. In it, a majority of residents of every racial and ethnic group, of every educational level, of every age category, and of both genders favors aligning city elections with federal contests.
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Strong Support
Few pollsters have tried to convince individual Americans either to support or oppose the move to on-cycle elections. But one study that presented respondents with different arguments for or against on-cycle elections found that those arguments did little to alter the public’s support for consolidated elections. When respondents were told that on-cycle elections could “increase the number of people who turn out to vote,” support only grew 1 percent higher than the baseline without that argument. Similarly, when respondents were told that holding off-cycle elections “helps keep politics out of education,” a clear majority still supported on-cycle elections and overall support for on-cycle contests only fell 8 points (Education Next 2021).
Surveys do, however, indicate that a fairly large segment of the population does not yet have an opinion on the topic. Depending on the survey, anywhere from one third of the population to one tenth of the population indicates that they don’t have a clear opinion of on-cycle elections.
Lastly, it is not just voters that favor on-cycle contests. One 2020 survey of local elected officials also found strong support for aligning elections among those officials (Local Elected Officials Survey – CES- 2020). Across the nation, 55 percent of local elected officials expressed support for consolidated elections and only 23 percent said they opposed them.
Voting on Consolidated Elections
On-cycle elections have proven to be just as popular when voters have had a chance to decide whether or not to hold on-cycle elections. Well over 100 municipalities around the country have voted on the move to on-cycle elections. We have data on the outcome of vote in 36 of those municipal level ballot contests. In 35 of those 36 contests voters approved consolidated elections. That 97 percent success rates exceeds the success rate for almost every other conceivable reform in American politics.
Voters not only approved on-cycle elections when given the chance, they also generally approved them with overwhelming majorities. Across all of the contests for which data are available, average support for on-cycle elections was 72 percent. That matches the figure in Los Angeles, where 72 percent of voters in the city approved Charter Amendment 1 to align city elections with statewide contests. That outcome of that single ballot measure resulted in over one half million new voters in the city. Turnout skyrocketed from about 300,000 to 400,000 in the last few off-cycle elections in the city to a million voters in the first presidential on-cycle elections in 2022 (CITE).
It is hard to overstate how impressive these numbers are and how much support on-cycle elections are getting. Across the 14 cities that voted on on-cycle elections in California, the average support for consolidating elections was 74 percent. Voting on statewide propositions in that state reveals how rare it is for voters to be this united on anything. One analysis of California initiatives between 1978 and 2000 revealed no case in which more than 75 percent or more of voters favored the same measure (Hajnal, Gerber, and Louch 2022). In short, voters rarely agree about something as much as they agree on on-cycle elections. Voters have made it clear that they prefer voting for many offices on a single day over voting for the same number of offices on different days.
Importantly, there is relatively little variation in support for on-cycle elections across states. Voters in Arizona (76 percent in favor), California (74 percent), Colorado (70 percent), Maryland (76 percent), Minnesota (61 percent), and Texas (61 percent) all supported the move to on-cycle elections by wide margins.
The limited data we have on votes for on-cycle elections at the school board and county levels also indicate that voters favor on-cycle contests for these different offices. Almost three-quarters of voters favored the move to on-cycle school districts. Roughly the same share of voters chose to move to on-cycle county board elections.
