A federal appeals court reaffirmed Tucson’s hybrid city election process Friday, rejecting Republican claims that it violates the one-person, one-vote principle. The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the system for municipal elections – in which council members are first nominated by party in ward races and then run at-large – is allowed under the federal system that “permits ‘innovation and experimentation’” that can “vary greatly across the country.” “Tucson’s hybrid system represents a careful, longstanding choice, twice affirmed by voters, as to how best to achieve a city council with members who represent Tucson as a whole but reflect and understand all of the city’s wards,” Judge Marsha Berzon wrote in the court’s unanimous opinion.
The decision reverses a November 2015 ruling by a divided three-judge panel of the circuit court that had agreed with a lawsuit by the Public Integrity Alliance, representing local Republicans, that claimed the system violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
“It’s very disappointing, and the options from here are to either walk away or ask the Supreme Court to review it,” said Kory Langhofer, who argued the case against the city for the Public Integrity Alliance.
But Tucson City Attorney Mike Rankin said the court was right to affirm the voting system that worked for the city. “It’s very satisfying to get a unanimous opinion of the court that upholds the voting system that the voters have chosen,” Rankin said.
Full Article: Tucson’s hybrid city elections upheld by full 9th Circuit.