New York City voters rejected a ballot measure to shift local elections to align with presidential election years, one of the effort’s biggest backers said Tuesday.
The Board of Elections reported that 53% of voters were opposed to 47% in favor, with nearly all the votes tallied on Tuesday night.
Grace Rauh, executive director of the good-government group Citizens Union, said she was “deeply disappointed” the ballot proposal did not pass.
The measure had been intended to boost voter turnout. But that argument was undermined by the more than 2 million voters who cast ballots in this November’s contest, the most in a mayoral race since 1969.
“We are encouraged by the unusually high levels of participation in this year’s municipal election. Preliminary election night numbers indicate that

Gothamist
KTAR News 92.3
Associated Press Elections
Raw Story
Reuters US Top
Local News in New Jersey
AlterNet
Local News in New York
RadarOnline