In response to the 9th Circuit ruling in favor of Arizona Public Integrity Alliance, that held that the City of Tucson’s “hybrid” system of electing city council members was unconstitutional, residents are planning to demand that the current Council not certify the November 3, General Election results.
The General Election was preceded by Ward only primaries. In the General Election, candidates Margaret Burkholder, and Kelly Lawton prevailed in their wards, but lost the vote across the city. According to Republicans, the people in Ward 4 and Ward 2 voted against Paul Cunningham and Shirley Scott by a clear majority and the incumbents lost in their wards.
Lawton stated today, “The Constiututional rights of our citizens for fair and equitable representation at Tucson City Council needs to be (and will be) protected at all costs.
An open letter was sent to the Council today. It reads:
The 9th Circuit Appellate Court ruled the way Tucson hold it’s elections is unconstitutional. The people are going to demand that this council does not certify this election.
You have a choice:
1. Certify Lawton and Burkholder as the elected council members
OR
2. Call for a special election leaving the two seats empty until the people can speak.Uhlich does not live in her Ward. How much are the citizens of Tucson supposed to endure by this body of “do as we please” council members.
This will not go away and we are prepared to do what it takes to make you obey the 9th Circuit City Court ruling.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Dunbar
Former law abiding council member, Ward 3
The ruling reads in part:
The panel rejected Tucson’s argument that the hybrid system is a reasonable “residency restriction” on the right to vote. The panel held that when two groups of citizens share identical interests in an election, the city may not use a residency requirement to exclude one group while including the other. The panel concluded that excluding out-of-ward voters from the primary election discriminates among residents of the same governmental unit in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Dissenting, Judge Tallman stated that the Constitution does not require Tucson to draw its district borders in a particular way for different local elections. He concluded that Tucson’s hybrid system is constitutional, and the majority erred in holding otherwise.
The Democrat establishment has thrived under the “hybrid” system in which the candidates are elected by ward in a partisan primary, and then during the general election voters across the city pick that ward’s council person.
According to attorney, Kory Langhofer, Tucson’s system dilutes the one person, one vote concept.
Langhofer argued in a motion seeking an injunction that the city should adopt either an entirely ward-based election, or an entirely city-based one.
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