Timing in Your City and State and How to Change It

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.

Change Can Happen - Paths to Consolidation

In the 24 states that currently require off-cycle elections any change in election timing would require action at the state level. In the 19 other states where state law allows but does not require municipalities to hold on-cycle elections, change can happen locally or at the state level. Locally, cities can make the move themselves. Statewide change in all of these states would generally require the state legislature to pass a new law or to alter enact an amendment to the constitution.

Change is also possible at other levels of office. At the school district level, 25 states hold mostly off-cycle elections. Those states are: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisianna, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Most county elections are now held on-cycle but even here some legislative contests are held in odd-years or on unusual dates.

State Paths to Consolidation

Since states are generally the final authority on city election schedules, state legislatures are an important avenue to reform. In the 24 states that require off-cycle elections, a new state law or an amendment to the state constitution could move all cities on-cycle. Similarly, in the 13 states that allow on-cycle elections, the state legislature could pass a law mandating on-cycle elections for all cities within the state.

But citizens could also play a role at the state level. In 10 of the states that currently require off-cycle elections, election consolidation could come through a ballot measure that members of the public initiate. Those states are: Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, and Washington.

Similarly, in 7 of the states that currently allow on-cycle elections, the public could initiate measures to require on-cycle elections either by changing state law or the constitution. City choice states where a citizen-initiated measure could require on-cycle elections are: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Since Americans strongly favor on-cycle elections and almost always support the move to consolidated elections, any measure that qualifies for the ballot is likely to pass. However, since most cities in one of these states (Wyoming) already hold on-cycle elections, reform there might be less impactful. Similarly, in Maine and Alaska, one- and three-year terms of office make reform more complicated there.

State Paths to Consolidation

In the 19 states where cities can change their own timing, reform is also possible at the local level. The city council can initiate the move to consolidated elections in almost all of the major cities these states. However, in many of these cities voters will also have a say. Often where election timing is in the city charter – and not simply in a city ordinance – the council must refer any changes to voters for final approval. The vast majority of these cities (80 percent) have their election schedule lodged in the city charter. Finally, in about a third of the big cities in these states, local residents may be able to initiate change on their own by introducing a ballot measure themselves. Sightline’s (2024) data set, serves as an important guide to reform paths at the local as it specifies for almost all cities whether election timing is in the state constitution, state law, city charter, or city ordinance.