[EL] Tucson elections - will ruling also apply to San Diego Unified School District?

[Larry Levine]

Balkanization of cities, school districts, etc. ignores the benefits of having all elected officials concerned about the welfare of the entire geopolitical entity instead of only catering to the re-election needs within his or her own district. The Tucson system, as well as the one in San Diego, seems to be a good way to balance the needs of local representation and districtwide attentiveness. As for the “approximately 83 percent of the electorate that votes for any given council seat in the general election has no say in selecting the nominees competing for that seat” if the system were changed to eliminate the citywide runoff, then the 83% would become 100%. I like the idea that an elected official can focus on his or her own district but cannot ignore the needs of the rest of the district. 

Larry

 

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Douglas Johnson
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 10:49 PM
To: 'Rick Hasen' <rhasen at law.uci.edu>; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Tucson elections - will ruling also apply to San Diego Unified School District?

 


San Diego Unified School District (in CA) also uses the same in-district primary / at-large runoff election system, though in San Diego the election is non-partisan. Is there any reason that the non-partisan nature would protect San Diego Unified? I do not see it, but maybe I am missing something.


 

-          Doug

 

Douglas Johnson

National Demographics Corporation

310-200-2058

 <mailto:djohnson at NDCresearch.com> djohnson at NDCresearch.com

 <http://www.NDCresearch.com> www.NDCresearch.com

 


Also, it would seem that the Supreme Court’s ruling  


 


 


 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=82390> Ninth Circuit Grants Rehearing En Banc in Case Involving Tuscon City Council “Hybrid” Election System


Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=82390> April 28, 2016 2:42 pm by  <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen

 <http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0416//15-16142> Order.

 <http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2015/11/10/15-16142.pdf> The panel decision featured an opinion by Judge Kozinski and a dissent by Judge Tallman. Judge Kozinski explained the hybrid system in the panel decision:

In some American cities, council seats are filled at large, with the entire city voting for each seat in the primary and general elections. In other cities, council members are nominated and elected by the residents of particular districts. Tucson splits the difference: Since 1930, the city has used a “hybrid system” that combines ward-based primaries with atlarge general elections. The first step in the hybrid system is a partisan primary. Each ward holds its own primary limited to residents of that ward. The winners of the ward primaries advance to the general election, where they compete against the other candidates nominated from that ward. In the general election, all Tucson residents can vote for one council member from each ward that held a primary during the same election cycle. See Charter ch. XVI, § 9. Thus, a resident of Ward 1 can’t vote in the Ward 2 primary, but can vote for one of the Ward 2 candidates in the general election. The parties agree that, 6 PUBLIC INTEGRITY ALLIANCE V. CITY OF TUCSON once elected, council members represent the entire city, not just the ward from which they were nominated. See City of Tucson v. State, 273 P.3d 624, 631 (Ariz. 2012) (“Tucson council members, although nominated by ward, represent the entire city, just as do council members elected at large in other cities.”); see also Dallas Cty. v. Reese, 421 U.S. 477, 480 (1975) (“[E]lected officials represent all of those who elect them . . . .”); Fortson v. Dorsey, 379 U.S. 433, 438 (1965) (similar). Council seats are filled in staggered elections, with three council members elected every other year. Once elected, a council member serves a four-year term. See Charter ch. XVI, §§ 3–4. The council members from Wards 1, 2 and 4 will be elected in 2015, and the council members from Wards 3, 5 and 6 will be elected in 2017. Because only half of the council seats are up for election in any given year, only half of Tucsonans can vote in a primary in each election cycle. And approximately 83 percent of the electorate that votes for any given council seat in the general election has no say in selecting the nominees competing for that seat.

 

 
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