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In addition to voting in the highly anticipated mayoral race this November, New Yorkers will make another consequential decision this election day. They’ll also decide whether the city will begin holding elections only on even-numbered calendar years. While it may sound irrelevant, it’s an important yay or nay. The measure, as written in Ballot Proposal 6, would mean that off-year primary and general elections would begin taking place in the same year as the presidential elections. If New Yorkers voted for the proposal, it would be in line with what New York state has already been moving toward. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeals unanimously voted to uphold a law that moved many town and county elections to even-numbered years. Now, those in NYC will have to decide whether to follow suit. Why does this matter for New Yorkers? Proponents of the proposal say that it will increase voter turnout, given it streamlines elections. In New York, historically, odd-year elections bring about extraordinarily low turnout, which seems to be getting worse. In the last mayoral election, which took place in an odd-year (2021), only 23% made it to the polls. Even this year, with a high-profile mayoral election and turnout trending upward, some predictions say that only between 30 to 40% of New Yorkers will vote. And, according to a 2022 Citizens United report, the six largest U.S. cities that hold local elections in odd-numbered years see turnout between 10% to 38% for mayoral races. Meanwhile, the six largest cities that have their elections in even-numbered years see numbers between 50% and 75%. And 60% of New Yorkers voted in the presidential election. In addition to the potential for higher voter turnout, streamlining elections could also mean improving elections, as election officials can use the off-years for other essential tasks and save money. According to a 2024 report from the citys Independent Budget Office, “if the City held on-cycle local elections, there would be fiscal year savings of approximately $42 million every other year.” The flipside While most New Yorkers are in favor of the proposal, some worry that shifting elections to even-numbered years could mean that during presidential election years, local issues don’t get as much attention. Likewise, ballots will have to cover more ground, meaning they could become much longer, and thus more confusing for voters. It could also mean that some voters only vote for the most consequential or high-profile races, a trend which has shown up in certain localities that have already begun to streamline elections. Still, according to Citizens United, “the evidence from the cities that consolidated elections and from New York City does not suggest that ballot drop-off is a significant issue.”
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Flight delays continued at U.S. airports Sunday amid air traffic controller shortages as the government shutdown entered its second month, with Newark airport in New Jersey experiencing delays of two to three hours.New York City’s Emergency Management office said on X that Newark delays often ripple out to the region’s other airports.Travelers flying to, from or through New York “should expect schedule changes, gate holds, and missed connections. Anyone flying today should check flight status before heading to the airport and expect longer waits,” the social media post added.George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare were also seeing dozens of delays and one or two cancellations, along with major airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami, according to FlightAware.As of Sunday evening, FlightAware said there were 4,295 delays and 557 cancelations of flights within, into or out of the U.S., not all related to controller shortages. In July, before the shutdown, about 69% of flights were on time and 2.5% were canceled.U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been warning that travelers will start to see more flight disruptions the longer controllers go without a paycheck.“We work overtime to make sure the system is safe. And we will slow traffic down, you’ll see delays, we’ll have flights canceled to make sure the system is safe,” Duffy said Sunday on CBS’S “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”He also said he does not plan to fire air traffic controllers who don’t show up for work.“Again when they’re making decisions to feed their families, I’m not going to fire air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “They need support, they need money, they need a paycheck. They don’t need to be fired.”Earlier in October, Duffy had warned air traffic controllers who had called in sick instead of working without a paycheck during the shutdown risked being fired. Even a small number of controllers not showing up for work is causing problems because the FAA has a critical shortage of them.The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday on X that nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks.Staffing shortages can occur both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, flight data showed strong on-time performance at most major U.S. airports for the month of October despite isolated staffing problems throughout the month.Before the shutdown, the FAA was already dealing with a long-standing shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers. Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press
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President Donald Trump’s administration faces deadlines on Monday to tell two federal judges whether it will comply with court orders that it continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.The U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net and it costs about $8 billion per month nationally.The situation leaves millions with uncertainty about how they will feed themselves. Benefits will be delayed in November regardless of the outcome of the court cases because many beneficiaries have their cards recharged early in the month and the process of loading cards can take a week or more in many states.Democratic state attorneys general or governors from 25 states, as well as the District of Columbia, challenged the plan to pause the program, contending that the administration has a legal obligation to keep it running in their jurisdictions. Cities and nonprofits also filed a lawsuit.On Friday, judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts ruled separately that the administration must continue to pay for SNAP. They both gave the administration leeway on whether to fund the program partially or in full for November.The USDA has a $5 billion contingency fund for the program, but the Trump administration reversed an earlier agency plan to use that money to keep SNAP running. Democratic officials argue that the administration could also use a separate fund of about $23 billion.U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, said SNAP must be funded using at least contingency funds, and he asked for an update on progress by Monday.He said all previous work requirement waivers must continue to be honored. During the shutdown, the USDA has terminated existing waivers that exempted work requirements for older adults, veterans and others.In Boston, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled the suspension was unlawful and said USDA has to pay for SNAP. Talwani ordered the federal government to advise by Monday whether they will use emergency reserve funds to provide reduced SNAP benefits for November or fully fund the program using both contingency funds and additional available funds.Advocates and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills. The majority of states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the SNAP debit cards.To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a family of four’s net income after certain expenses can’t exceed the federal poverty line, which is about $32,000 per year. Last year, SNAP assisted nearly 42 million people, about two-thirds of whom were families with children. Associated Press
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