Controversial Election Proposals Likely to be Considered by Albany Legislators in 2027
By: Joseph T. Burns
While New York’s 2027 state legislative session is still more than four months away, it already appears that some contentious election-related proposals may come before the members of the State Senate and Assembly elected in this November’s elections. These proposals will not only come in the form of bills but also as amendments to the New York State Constitution and will likely touch on everything from altering the state’s redistricting process to more mundane election administration matters.
One constitutional amendment likely to get a close look from legislators is the proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age for most state judges. Currently, the state constitution requires most state court judges, including Supreme Court justices and Family Court judges, to retire on December 31 in the year in which the judge turns 70 years old (Supreme Court justices may receive extensions and continue their service). Under the proposed amendment, the mandatory retirement age would be raised to 76.
While this amendment was not voted on by either house of the state legislature in 2026, there may be renewed interest in it given the outcome of a recent state court challenge to the mandatory retirement age for judges. In that case, state court judges challenged this age limit and argued that it was repealed by implication when the voters adopted the Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution in 2024. The New York State Court of Appeals rejected this argument and preserved the current mandatory retirement age of 70.
Another amendment to the state constitution that is likely to be considered by the state legislature in 2027 is the proposal to radically alter the state’s redistricting process. This amendment received first passage in each house of the state legislature near the end of the 2026 session and came after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an effort by New York Democrats to redraw the boundaries of the only Republican-held Congressional seat in the City of New York.
The amendment would enable the state legislature to undertake a mid-decade redistricting of the state’s Congressional seats when another state conducts a mid-decade redistricting. Maybe more significantly, the amendment would undo the state constitution’s prohibition on partisan gerrymandering.
Should the state legislature elected in 2026 provide second passage of this amendment in 2027, it could go before the voters of New York at the 2027 General Election. Should the voters approve it at the 2027 General Election, New Yorkers could see redrawn Congressional seats for the 2028 election.
The legislature may also take up a number of proposals that only passed a single house of the state legislature in 2026 or previous years.
One such bill would impose minimum qualification requirements on commissioners of local boards of elections. This bill mandates that the New York State Board of Elections establish minimum qualifications for local BOE commissioners and requires that these qualifications be met by commissioners appointed or reappointed after the adoption of these standards. While this bill passed the Senate in 2025 and 2026, it did not come before the Assembly for a vote in either of these years.
Another bill that passed only the Senate in 2025 and 2026 is one that would make the terms of all local commissioners of elections four years. Currently, local BOE commissioners serve terms of either two or four years. This proposal, which has long been a priority of the state’s Election Commissioners Association, would standardize this by making the terms of all commissioners four years. Like the election commissioner minimum qualifications bill, there is a good chance that the state legislature takes a close look at this proposal in 2027.
Changes to the state’s ballot access process can often be controversial. One major change that, in 2025, appeared to be poised for passage may find itself back from the legislative wilderness in 2027. That bill, a proposal to eliminate the ability of judicial candidates to run in the primary of a party of which they are not enrolled, may find itself the object of renewed interest when the legislature returns in 2027.
Currently, the Election Law mandates that candidates not enrolled in a political party receive an authorization – or Wilson-Pakula – from that party in order to enter that party’s primary. Exempted from this requirement, however, are candidates nominated by a newly recognized party, candidates nominated by a party caucus, and candidates for judicial offices. This bill eliminates that exemption for judicial candidates.
While the bill passed the Assembly in 2025, it did not come before the full Senate for a vote that year, and in 2026, neither house of the state legislature voted on the bill. Interest in this change to the ballot access process for judicial candidate may have waned in 2026, but it is quite possible that in 2027 the newly elected state legislature finds this proposal appealing.
Baseball legend and American cultural icon Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” And while it is far from certain that all or any of these bills and amendments will be considered by the Senate and Assembly in 2027, there is a high likelihood that New Yorkers see some heated debates over these proposals when the state legislature convenes for next year’s session.
