Napa County supervisors on Tuesday took the first step toward moving several countywide elections to coincide with the presidential race — a change that would give top financial and record-keeping officials two more years in office.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to direct staff to draft an ordinance aligning elections for the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector with the presidential cycle. The proposal will return for a final vote at a future meeting.

If approved, the next elections for those offices would move from 2026 to 2028.

The idea originated with Supervisor Belia Ramos, following a 2022 state law that required sheriff and district attorney elections to coincide with presidential races. That law also gave counties the option to extend the alignment to other countywide offices.

If Napa County adopts the change, only the District 1 and District 3 supervisor seats — along with the county superintendent of schools — would appear on the 2026 ballot.

Legislative analyst Andrew Mize told supervisors the county lacks local data on how such a change might affect voter participation or campaign costs. However, a report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office found that voter turnout is generally higher in presidential years, though down-ballot contests can attract less attention. It also noted that local candidates may face higher campaign costs competing for visibility during those crowded election cycles.

Supervisors Ramos and Joelle Gallagher voiced support for the shift. Gallagher said she doesn’t think candidates in smaller counties like Napa face the same attention challenges as those in places like Los Angeles.

“Anyone who is running for office in Napa County has ample opportunity to be heard,” Gallagher said.

Other supervisors said they hadn’t yet taken a position. Supervisor Anne Cottrell said drafting the ordinance would at least allow the board to consider the issue before the Dec. 12 filing deadline.

“Asking staff to draft the ordinance does not lock us into anything, other than it secures a timely path forward,” Cottrell said.

Longtime Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk John Tuteur spoke against the change, saying the prominence of presidential-year elections drives up costs and makes local contests harder to notice.

“It’s a high-cost, high-profile election and it makes the local county-wide races disappear,” Tuteur said.

He also noted that most of those races — about 96% statewide — are decided in the March presidential primary, when many independent voters don’t cast ballots because they can’t vote for president.

Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert Minahen, speaking on behalf of Auditor-Controller Tracy Schulze, said they would support whichever direction the board chooses.

“We really don’t have a dog in this fight, if you will,” Minahen said. “All of the noise and the additional costs that Mr. Tuteur referred to — 60% of you guys do this anyway. And so far be it from me to not enjoy the pain that you go through.”