Election Day Primer: Off-year vs. Special

New Yorkers will vote in two elections to fill vacant City Council seats on November 3. Seems pretty simple, right? But not every vacancy is created equal. There are two different kinds of elections – off-year and special – conducted under different sets of rules.

Both of these elections types will be held on November 3. In the off-year election in Queens Council District 23, voters will select a replacement for Mark Weprin in a race that has already seen a highly competitive, six-candidate Democratic primary. On Staten Island, there’s one candidate on the ballot in a special election for Staten Island Council District 51, vacated by Vincent Ignizio.

What distinguishes an off-year election from a special election? Each fills a vacancy in a city office that results from an elected official’s resignation, removal, death or permanent incapacitation. Determining which type of election is held comes down to the timing of the vacancy. There are some significant differences in how each election is run. There are differences in the way candidates qualify for the ballot, and how voters get to choose their representatives. There are also differences in campaign contribution limits and how the city’s matching funds program works in each.

Timing Is Everything

For an “off-year” election, the office becomes vacant in time for candidates to circulate designating petitions for a party primary. This is what happened in District 23 this year when Mr. Weprin officially left office in mid-June. An off-year election has a primary and a general election, just like a regular election. The winner of the off-year general election serves until the end of the term. In the case of Queens District 23, whoever wins the election on November 3 will take office immediately (because the seat is currently vacant) and hold it until December 31, 2017.

There are a few scenarios that result in a special election. A special can happen if the vacancy occurs early--more than 90 days before a primary election--or if, as in the case of this year’s District 51 contest, the vacancy happens late—too late for candidates to do petitioning for a party primary. Special elections are nonpartisan; there is no primary election, and candidates do not run on official party lines. Instead, candidates must file independent nominating petitions to get on the ballot. The winning candidate takes office immediately, and holds the seat until the end of the year. At the next regularly scheduled election, a vote is held to fill the seat for the remainder of the term. In Council District 51, an off-year election will be held in 2016 to fill the seat through the end of 2017. (In other cases, if a special election is held early in the year, the seat may be up again for election later that fall.)

“Just Right” for an Off-year

What makes this year’s off-year election unusual is that it was not preceded by a special election. There is only a narrow window of time in the election calendar when this may occur, and the vacancy in District 23 hit this “just right” period squarely.

If the seat had been declared vacant just a few weeks later, there would have been a special election this year followed by an off-year election in 2016 (as in District 51). If the seat had been declared vacant a few weeks or months earlier than it was, both the special election and the off-year election would have taken place in 2015.

Campaign Finance Differences

Contribution and spending limits for off-year elections are the same as for regular elections. Public matching funds payments, and the thresholds to qualify for them, are also the same. Limits and thresholds can be found here.

Due to the abbreviated calendar for special elections, the contribution limits for special election candidates are only half those that apply during a regular election cycle. In a regular election cycle—or an off-year election—public funds payments are made for both the primary and general contests. In a special election, there is only one election and only one round of public funds payments. See the limits and thresholds for the Council District 51 race, as an example.

Got all that? Good. While it may appear to be an overly complicated process, these rules were written with a very good purpose: to make sure that city residents do not go too long without representation in government when a vacancy occurs.

[This post has been edited.]