Onondaga County term limits: what the two propositions on the November 3, 2026 ballot would do

Onondaga County voters will see two term limit propositions on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Proposition 1 would cap the county executive and the county comptroller at three consecutive four-year terms, or 12 years. Proposition 2 would cap both offices at four consecutive four-year terms, or 16 years. If both pass, the one with more yes votes becomes law. If neither passes, the offices stay as they are today, with no term limit.

Why it matters: these two offices run county government and audit it, both are on the ballot again in November 2027, and a yes on both is a vote for whichever finishes ahead.

The ballot exists because of a July 15 sequence the county’s records lay out to the minute. County Executive J. Ryan McMahon II’s office emailed the Legislature a signed approval of a 12-year term limit law at 11:38 a.m. and a veto of the same law at 11:57 a.m. McMahon’s July 17 statement called it “a clerical error.” A lawsuit, a court agreement and a replacement law followed.

**Key points**

– The Legislature passed the replacement law September 1. McMahon signed it September 8 (Central Current, September 8; WRVO, September 9).
– Early voting runs October 24 to November 1, 2026. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on November 3.

What will the ballot say?

The Onondaga County Board of Elections had not posted general election sample ballots as of September 13, 2026, so this wording is from the law, which prescribes the ballot form.

Proposition 1, descriptive title: “ESTABLISHING THREE CONSECUTIVE FOUR-YEAR TERM LIMITS FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE AND COUNTY COMPTROLLER.” Summary: “Establishing a term limit of three (3) consecutive four-year terms for the office of County Executive and the office of County Comptroller.” Voting “No,” the law says, “leaves the offices without term limits.”

Proposition 2, descriptive title: “ESTABLISHING FOUR CONSECUTIVE FOUR-YEAR TERM LIMITS FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE AND COUNTY COMPTROLLER.” Summary: “Establishing a term limit of four (4) consecutive four-year terms for the office of County Executive and the office of County Comptroller.”

Section 8 covers a double yes: “the proposition that receives the largest number of affirmative votes shall prevail,” and the other is repealed automatically.

Does it apply to McMahon, and from when?

Both propositions write the same clock into the county charter: “Years served prior to January 1, 2031 shall not be counted.”

The county’s 2026 elected officials list shows McMahon and Comptroller Martin D. Masterpole in terms ending December 31, 2027. Charter Section 301 puts the county executive on the ballot every fourth year from 1967, so both offices are up in November 2027 and November 2031.

That leaves a gap the law does not address. The term beginning January 1, 2028 runs through December 31, 2031 and straddles the cutoff, and the text does not say whether it counts as the first term. CNY Signal worked the dates from the charter’s election cycle: if it counts, a 12-year limit ends an unbroken run on December 31, 2039 and a 16-year limit on December 31, 2043. If the first counted term starts January 1, 2032, those dates become December 31, 2043 and December 31, 2047.

The cap is on consecutive terms; a former officeholder could run again after sitting out.

How the question got to the ballot

CNYCentral reported on July 15 that McMahon had confirmed he would veto the bill. The Legislature’s clerk treated the 11:38 a.m. approval as the operative document because it arrived first, according to Resolution 126. The replacement law records the other side: “The County Executive is of the opinion that the local law was vetoed.”

Election Commissioner Dustin M. Czarny held that the law was adopted and belonged on the ballot; Commissioner Kevin P. Ryan held that it was vetoed, and the resolution says both must agree to place a proposition. The August 21 agreement, reached before state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Lamendola (Spectrum News, August 21), had every party sign a statement that the past three months are not precedent, according to the Legislature’s release that day.

As of September 13, the county’s Adopted Local Laws page lists only Local Laws 1 to 3 of 2026, so the signed law has no posted number yet, and the Legislature has not posted the September 1 minutes.

What does the county charter say now?

Nothing about term limits for these offices. The charter the county posts (current through December 2019) sets four-year terms in Sections 301, 501 and 2203 with no cap on terms; the propositions add one paragraph each to Sections 301 and 501.

Section 210 gives the county executive 10 days to veto a local law; an override takes two-thirds of the 17 members, 12 votes, and no term limit vote this year reached that. Charter changes affecting elective offices go to a mandatory referendum, which is why the question reaches voters at all. Legislators went first: Local Law 14 of 2025, approved by voters in November 2025, moves them to four-year terms this November with a three-term cap.

Who else is on the November 3 ballot in Onondaga County?

From the Board of Elections’ official candidates list, revised September 10, 2026:

All 17 county legislative seats are up, for four-year terms for the first time. Three towns carry their own questions: DeWitt (a four-year supervisor term), Fabius (four-year terms for three offices) and LaFayette (an ambulance staffing tax the ballot text puts at $332 a year on a $200,000 home).