Sponsors (2)
The bill encourages odd-year local elections and ties federal election funding to state laws, preserving local scheduling authority and potentially clearer local ballots for compliant jurisdictions while risking significant funding loss, degraded election administration, lower turnout, and legal/political costs for noncompliant states and voters.
States and localities that adopt odd-year local election schedules retain eligibility for HAVA and other federal election funds beginning FY2027, keeping federal financial support for ballots, equipment, and staff.
Local governments gain formal congressional recognition of authority to schedule local elections in odd-numbered years, preserving local control over election timing.
Voters in jurisdictions that move local contests to odd years could face less crowded ballots, making it easier to focus on local candidates and issues.
States that do not enact laws allowing odd-year local elections risk losing federal election funding beginning FY2027, forcing cuts to election administration or higher local costs and potentially degrading ballot access and voting operations (fewer polling places, longer lines, slower results).
If local elections are moved to odd years, turnout for those contests could fall compared with concurrent federal/state elections, reducing participation in local races and weakening representation.
Conditioning federal election funding on state statutory structures for local election timing reduces state flexibility over local schedules and may prompt legal or political conflicts between state and local governments.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 21, 2025 by Andrew R. Garbarino · Last progress February 21, 2025
Prohibits federal election-related funds to any state that does not have a law allowing its units of local government to hold local-office elections in odd-numbered years. The restriction applies to funding provided under the Help America Vote Act and to any other federal law that provides funds to administer federal, state, or local elections beginning in fiscal year 2027. The measure expresses Congress’s view that odd-year local elections improve focus on local issues and voter decision-making, and it adds a compliance condition to federally funded election programs so states must permit odd-year local elections to remain eligible for those funds.