Sen. Nick DiCeglie is considering filing a bill that would move municipal elections in Pinellas County to the same day as General Elections.
Speaking during a Pinellas County legislative delegation meeting, DiCeglie offered few details of his potential bill. But he compared it to a bill he filed last year (SB 1416[1]) that would have applied statewide.
That legislation would have required municipalities to hold elections concurrently with the General Election and, where applicable in areas with runoff elections, to hold the first election the same date as the Primary. The measure died in committee during the 2025 Legislative Session.
If filed, DiCeglie’s new local bill would apply only to Pinellas County and be heard in the 2026 Legislative Session.
“My concern and the problem I’m trying to address here is there’s some — several, I should say — municipalities in Pinellas that have incredibly low turnout,” he said. “I think that having a higher turnout, having more community engagement, more engagement from the electorate, is going to turn into, I think, a more educated electorate.”
DiCeglie said the measure would lead to “significant savings from an expense standpoint,” a reference to combining elections, which would obviate the need for additional ballots.
He emphasized that the potential bill is currently in conceptual form. Rep. Adam Anderson, who chairs the delegation this year, said if he files a local bill, it must be received by Oct. 13 in order to be considered at the delegation’s next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12.
There was only one comment on DiCeglie’s conceptual idea from Rep. Michele Rayner, a Democrat.
She asked that DiCeglie send her “some of the research … with regard to the turnout.”
“I’m really interested to see what the other municipalities have going on. And just as we are kind of developing this to making sure that everyone has access to the ballot, and that people will actually go through the entire ballot,” she said.
Critics of moving municipal elections to either General Election cycles or from odd-numbered years to those in even-numbered years argue that doing so risks burying local races amid campaigning for higher-profile races.
The city of St. Petersburg recently moved[2] its elections from odd-numbered years. The Mayor’s race and some City Council races will be on the 2026 ballot rather than appearing before voters this year. The change came after voters approved a referendum in 2022.
The result means that rather than having the Mayor’s race at the top of the ballot, it will be at the bottom beneath the Governor’s race and other statewide contests, congressional elections and legislative races.
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References
- ^ SB 1416 (www.flhouse.gov)
- ^ recently moved (stpetecatalyst.com)