PHOENIX – The City of Tucson’s ordinance, which calls for elections for city council and city ballot measures to be held “off-cycle” in 2021 rather than on the statewide election dates in 2022, may be in violation state law.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) released its findings in the SB 1487 investigation called for by Senator J.D. Mesnard as to whether the City of Tucson’s ordinance violates state law.
The AGO’s “may violate” determination will allow for the AGO to seek relief in the nature of declaratory judgment against the City of Tucson in the Arizona Supreme Court.
“I am heartened by this judgement by the Attorney General that Tucson’s Ordinance may violate state law and his decision to kick it to the AZ Supreme Court. This is just another example of the City of Tucson’s frequent contention that “Tucson is special” and does not need to comply with state law because it’s a Charter City. I’m confident the Supreme Court will conclude that Tucson must hold it’s elections in even numbered years due to the miserable turnout in the 2019 City election,” said David Eppihimer, Chairman of the Pima County Republican Party.
Attorney General’s Office determines City of Tucson’s election ordinance may violate state law. #AZAG will seek relief from Arizona Supreme Court regarding Tucson’s “off-cycle” election date ordinance. https://t.co/gjzO1fH2J2
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) July 17, 2020
Arizona law establishes that when charter cities, such as Tucson, “demonstrate low voter turnout in the elections that are not held on the consolidated election dates…the low voter turnout constitutes sufficient factual support for requiring candidate and other elections to be held on certain specific consolidated dates.” The statute defines “significant decrease in voter turnout” as at least a 25% decline in voter turnout for an at-large candidate election.
During the 2018 statewide general election, turnout within Tucson city limits was 67%. However, turnout for Tucson’s off-cycle 2019 election was a meager 39.26%. By law, this significant decrease in turnout would require Tucson to hold its next city election on the statewide election dates in 2022. Despite the decrease in voter turnout, Tucson City Council voted in February 2020 to hold the next city primary election on August 3, 2021 and the next city general election on November 2, 2021.
As a charter city, Tucson may enact ordinances that conflict with state law when those ordinances relate to matters of purely local concern. However, the decision of when to hold an election is likely not a matter of purely local concern. The statute expressly states that it is a matter of statewide concern to increase voter participation in elections when there is evidence of low voter turnout in a charter city election. Election dates also implicate the State’s interests in protecting Arizonans’ constitutional right to vote and safeguarding election integrity. Additionally, the Arizona Supreme Court has previously stated that some aspects of local elections are matters of statewide concern, including election dates.