//Local government 101

How local elections work

Facts checked against official sources · September 9, 2026

Local elections follow different rules than the presidential race you see on television. They often happen in odd years or in the spring, usually without party labels, sometimes with a runoff, occasionally with ranked-choice ballots, and almost always with a fraction of the turnout. The people who understand those rules win seats that the people who assume November rules apply do not.

This guide covers when local elections happen and why, the difference between consolidated and stand-alone elections, how nonpartisan ballots and plurality or majority rules change strategy, where ranked-choice voting is used, what the turnout numbers actually look like, who runs the election, and why the voter registration list matters more when 12 percent of voters show up than when 65 percent do.

When local elections happen: on-cycle, odd-year, and off-cycle

An on-cycle local election shares the November ballot of an even year with federal and state races. An off-cycle election happens any other time: November of an odd year, or a spring or summer date. Political scientist Sarah Anzia, whose book Timing and Turnout is the standard work on the subject, notes that the vast majority of the country's more than 500,000 elected officials are elected on days other than the November even-year Election Day. About 90 percent of states hold at least some municipal elections apart from national elections, and roughly three-quarters do so for school boards (Brookings).

State law sets the menu of dates. Texas, for example, requires most elections to be held on one of its uniform election dates: the first Saturday in May, or the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, with exceptions for runoffs, court-ordered elections, and a few others (Texas Election Code 41.001). Many Texas cities and school districts choose May, which is why a Texas council race can be decided six months before anyone else is paying attention to politics.

The trend is toward consolidation. California's Voter Participation Rights Act bars a local government from holding elections on a date other than a statewide election date if doing so has previously produced a significant decrease in turnout, defined as turnout at least 25 percent below the jurisdiction's average in the previous four statewide general elections (Elections Code 14052; 14051). Other states have moved school board elections to November of even years by statute. Off-cycle dates persist where incumbents, local governments, and organized groups prefer the smaller electorate.

The first thing to learn about any local race is the date. It determines who votes, how long you have, and whether your race shares the ballot with anything that will bring people to the polls.

Consolidated vs. stand-alone elections

A consolidated election puts several jurisdictions on one ballot administered by one office, usually the county. Your city council race, a school board race, and a bond question might all appear together, with the county elections office running early voting, printing ballots, and counting. A stand-alone election is run by the jurisdiction itself, on its own date, at its own polling places, at its own expense. School districts in New York, Texas, and Wisconsin, for example, are allowed to administer their own elections, while in most states the data on school board races comes from county registrars because the county runs them (Kogan, Lavertu, and Peskowitz).

For a candidate the difference is practical. A consolidated November election means more voters, more competition for attention, and a ballot where your race sits far below the top; a stand-alone May election means fewer voters, fewer polling places (sometimes one, at the district office), and a campaign that is entirely about identifying and turning out a small, known universe. Stand-alone elections also cost the jurisdiction money, which is one reason many have consolidated.

Nonpartisan ballots and what they change

Over three-quarters of municipalities hold nonpartisan elections, according to the National League of Cities, and 88 percent of school board members surveyed by the National School Boards Association in 2018 said party affiliation does not appear on their ballot (NSBA). County offices, by contrast, are partisan in most states, with a party primary and a general election.

Nonpartisan does not mean nonpolitical. NLC's own summary of the research notes that without party labels voters lean on other cues: name recognition, incumbency, the sound of a name, and single-issue identification. Parties, unions, chambers of commerce, and neighborhood groups still endorse, and precinct chairs still walk. The practical effect for a candidate is that the ballot gives voters nothing to go on, so the campaign has to supply it: a recognizable name, a visible endorsement, and repeated contact with the people who will actually vote.

Plurality, majority runoffs, and primaries

Three rules decide how a winner is picked. Under a plurality rule, the candidate with the most votes wins, even with 30 percent in a four-way race. Under a majority rule, a candidate needs more than half; if no one gets there, the top two go to a runoff a few weeks later. Under a primary system, common for partisan county offices, each party nominates first and the nominees meet in the general election.

Texas illustrates how a state sets the default. Its Election Code says that to be elected a candidate must receive more votes than any other candidate, a plurality, unless a statute or a home-rule city charter requires a majority, in which case a runoff between the top two is held (Texas Election Code 2.001). Cities in the same state can therefore run under different rules depending on their charter. Georgia and Louisiana are known for majority-runoff systems; many other states use plurality for local races.

Strategy follows the rule. In a plurality race with several candidates, a committed base of 35 percent can win outright, so consolidating a faction matters more than persuading the middle. In a majority-runoff race, the goal in round one is to make the runoff and to avoid making enemies of the third-place candidate's voters, who decide round two. A runoff is also a second, lower-turnout election in which the campaign has to re-mobilize everyone within weeks.

Ranked-choice voting where it is used

Ranked-choice voting lets voters rank candidates; if no one has a majority of first choices, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots move to their next choice until someone passes 50 percent. As of March 2026, Alaska and Maine use it for statewide elections, and a set of cities use it locally, including New York City (primaries), Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cambridge, Portland, Maine, and several San Francisco Bay Area cities. Nineteen states prohibit it: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming (NCSL, updated March 23, 2026).

Where it applies, ranked-choice changes the campaign in one visible way: second and third choices count, so attacking an opponent whose voters you need as backups is costly, and candidates often campaign jointly or ask explicitly to be ranked second. Counting takes longer, and the winner may not be the first-choice leader.

Turnout: the numbers for on-cycle vs. off-cycle

National turnout is high in presidential years and drops from there. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey found 65.3 percent of the citizen voting-age population voted in November 2024, with 73.6 percent registered (Census Bureau); the 2022 midterm drew 52.2 percent (Census Bureau). Administrative data from the Election Assistance Commission put 2024 turnout at 64.7 percent of the citizen voting-age population, with more than 158 million ballots counted (EAC, 2024 EAVS).

Local elections held on their own dates look nothing like that. Portland State University's study of the most recent mayoral elections in the 30 largest U.S. cities found turnout of eligible citizens below 20 percent in 15 of them and below 15 percent in 10, including New York City, Baltimore, Dallas, and Miami. Dallas came in at 6.1 percent, Fort Worth at 6.5 percent, and Las Vegas at 9.4 percent. The median age of those who voted was 57, and 46.7 percent of registered voters over 65 turned out compared with 9 percent of those aged 18 to 34 (Who Votes for Mayor?; study release). Those are big-city mayoral races; a spring school board election in a suburb is often lower.

Anzia's research explains the consequence. Off-cycle timing does not lower everyone's turnout equally; it lowers turnout among people with no particular stake while organized groups (public employee unions, parent networks, neighborhood associations) keep voting. The smaller the electorate, the larger the share those groups represent, and the more policy tilts toward them (Anzia). For a candidate, the lesson is the same either way: whoever can identify and mobilize the habitual voters wins.

Turnout benchmarks (share of eligible or citizen voting-age population)
Election	Turnout	Source
November 2024 presidential	65.3 percent	Census Bureau CPS, 2025
November 2022 midterm	52.2 percent	Census Bureau CPS, 2023
Mayoral, 30 largest cities (15 of 30)	Under 20 percent	Portland State, 2016
Mayoral, Dallas	6.1 percent	Portland State, 2016
Mayoral, Las Vegas	9.4 percent	Portland State, 2016

Who administers local elections

In most states the county runs elections: a county clerk, an elections administrator, or a board of elections registers voters, maintains the rolls, prints ballots, staffs polling places, and counts. In some New England and Midwestern states the job belongs to cities and townships. All told there are more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions in the United States (NCSL). The EAC's 2024 survey collected data from 6,461 local jurisdictions, and reported more than 211 million active registered voters nationwide (EAC).

Above the county sits a state chief election official, usually the secretary of state; voters elect that official in 33 states, and 17 states and the District of Columbia also have a board or commission overseeing elections (NCSL). For a local candidate the county or municipal office is the one that matters. It is where you file (or confirm where to file), where you buy or download the voter registration list, where you get precinct maps and past results, and where early-voting totals and, in mail-ballot states, ballot-return data are published. The state guides name the office for each state.

Why the voter list matters more when turnout is 10 to 15 percent

Take a council district with 12,000 registered voters and a May election that draws 12 percent. That is 1,440 ballots, and in a two-way race about 725 votes wins. The question is not how to persuade 12,000 people; it is which 1,440 will show up, and the answer is mostly already written down. The voter registration list every county maintains records whether each voter cast a ballot in past elections, and the people who voted in the last two May elections are overwhelmingly the people who will vote in the next one.

That is why campaigns in low-turnout races live inside the voter file. Sorting registered voters by vote history turns 12,000 names into perhaps 2,000 likely voters, which is a number one candidate and a few volunteers can knock, mail, and call several times before Election Day. In a 65-percent November election the same district has 7,800 voters, most of them there for the top of the ticket, and the campaign has to reach many more people with a message most will never read. Low turnout is not a barrier for a well-organized local campaign; it is the whole opportunity.

The mechanics are covered in how to read a voter file, the math in how many votes it takes to win, the field plan in the door-knocking guide, and the mail-ballot version in ballot chase in vote-by-mail states.

Win number, then universe, then contacts. Figure out how many votes won last time, list the voters most likely to cast them, and count how many times you can reach each one. Everything else in a local campaign is a detail.

A typical local election calendar

The specifics vary by state and are listed in the state-by-state guides, but most local races follow the same arc. A filing window opens a few months before the election, often with a fee or a petition. Ballot order is set by lot or by filing order. Voter registration closes two to four weeks before Election Day in most states, though many allow same-day registration. Mail ballots go out to those who requested them (or to everyone, in universal vote-by-mail states) a few weeks out, early in-person voting runs for a week or two, Election Day arrives, and, if the jurisdiction uses a majority rule, a runoff follows a few weeks later. Campaign finance reports are due at fixed points along the way; see campaign finance basics.

Each of those dates is a deadline that ends someone's campaign every cycle: a candidate who missed the filing window, a supporter who was not registered in time, a mail ballot that arrived after the cutoff. Build the calendar first, then the plan.

Frequently asked questions

When are local elections held?

It depends on the state and the jurisdiction. Some local races share the November ballot in even years with state and federal contests; many are held in November of odd years or on a spring date such as the first Saturday in May in Texas. Roughly 90 percent of states hold at least some municipal elections apart from national elections. Your county elections office or state guide lists the date for your race.

What is an off-cycle election?

An off-cycle election is any election held on a date other than the November even-year Election Day: odd-year November elections, spring elections, and stand-alone special elections. Research by Sarah Anzia and others shows off-cycle timing sharply lowers turnout and increases the influence of organized groups whose members vote regardless of the date.

Are local elections partisan or nonpartisan?

Most city council and school board elections are nonpartisan, meaning no party label appears on the ballot; the National League of Cities puts nonpartisan municipalities at over three-quarters. Most county offices are partisan, with party primaries. Parties and interest groups endorse in nonpartisan races anyway, so the label's absence changes the ballot more than it changes the politics.

What is a runoff election?

A runoff is a second election between the top two finishers, held when the law requires a majority and no candidate got more than half the vote in the first round. Some states and city charters require majorities; others let the plurality winner take the seat. Runoffs usually happen a few weeks after the first election and draw even fewer voters.

Which places use ranked-choice voting?

As of March 2026, Alaska and Maine use ranked-choice voting statewide, and cities including New York (for primaries), Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cambridge, Portland, Maine, and several San Francisco Bay Area cities use it locally, according to NCSL. Nineteen states prohibit it. Check your state's law and your city charter before assuming either way.

Who runs local elections?

Usually the county: a clerk, elections administrator, or board of elections registers voters, prints ballots, staffs the polls, and counts. In some New England and Midwestern states, cities and townships do it. NCSL counts more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions nationally. That office is also where a candidate gets the voter registration list, precinct maps, and past results.

Know your date. Then build the list.

Culper is a campaign operations platform built for low-turnout local races: bring your own list, sort it by vote history, cut walk turf, and text and email the people who actually show up.

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