Spending Your Tax Dollars on Voter Suppression

By Stephen Hunter

On Thursday, September 4th I attended a rare evening session of the Orange County Legislature. It was powerful to see so many people in the legislative chamber, eager to participate in our local government. Despite repeated requests from the public to hold meetings in the evening, legislative sessions are normally held at 3:30 PM – when it’s difficult for people to attend. This is a common theme with the Republican elected officials in Orange County – ignore the public, and avoid transparency.

Before each monthly meeting, an agenda is posted online. The public can sign up before the meeting starts to comment on an agenda item. At the meeting on September 4th, numerous residents spoke passionately about the urgent need for better public transportation, the housing crisis, and support for seniors – real issues that affect daily life.
After the public comments, Republican Majority Leader Leigh Benton introduced a last-minute agenda item, a proposal to allocate more taxpayer money to an ongoing lawsuit against New York State. It quickly became clear why Benton was trying to slip this agenda item in last-minute as it sparked a heated debate as well as outage from the public in attendance.

For context, in December of 2023, Senate Bill S3505B passed both houses of the State Legislature and was signed by Governor Hochul – mandating the shift of most county and town elections to even-numbered years (aligning local races with state and federal elections) with the goal of increasing voter turnout.

The law was challenged by several counties and towns that argued it infringed upon their “home rule” authority over local elections. However, in May 2025 an Appellate Court upheld
the law and issued a ruling – declaring it to be constitutional.

Even though this issue has already been litigated and the law has been upheld by an Appellate Court – the Republican led Orange County Government is spending our tax dollars to fight this mandate. They voted unanimously to allocate more money to this frivolous lawsuit. The Democrats all voted against Benton’s last minute proposal, and Legislator Genesis Ramos reminded her Republican colleagues that taxpayer dollars would be better spent tackling the real issues facing Orange County residents – such as healthcare, housing, public transportation, and support for working families.

The change to our local election cycle is a huge win for voters and local candidates. By having local elections in even numbered years – it will increase turnout and engagement.
However, I am not surprised that our Republican Legislators are fighting this so hard. They don’t like when voters turnout and are engaged in the election process. It’s the same reason Republicans refuse to have evening meetings; they don’t want to make it easier for the public to participate in local government.

If you are tired of this nonsense and want public servants who actually care about real issues– vote for one of the 19 incredible Democratic candidates running for Orange County Legislature this year. Early voting starts on October 25th and Election Day is November 4th.

Stephen Hunter
Resident of the Town of Newburgh