Voters in East Lansing, Michigan, will decide on three charter amendments in Nov. 2023, including one measure to move local elections from odd to even-numbered years. If voters approve the amendment, the 2025 election would move to 2026.
In 2022, Ballotpedia tracked 13 local ballot measures that proposed moving local election dates from odd to even-numbered years. All 13 measures were approved. All 13 were referred to the ballot by a vote of a local governing board like a city council or school board. The average “yes” vote for the measures was 70.3%.
In support of the change, East Lansing Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg said, “Keeping our odd-year, off-year elections and shouldering the cost of a city council-only election, to me, equals expending city resources to disenfranchise two-thirds of our residents. And that does not sit right with me.”
