By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers are moving to allow voters around the state to decide — and possibly overrule — how Tucson elects members of its city council.

SCR 1036 would spell out if cities have council members selected by district, only those people living in the district get the last word on who will be elected. The 16-12 vote Monday sends the measure to the House.

The proposal pushed by Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, is specifically designed to overturn the unique “modified ward” system in Tucson.

Individual council members run within their own districts. And only registered voters in that district can vote in the primary.

But all city voters get to weigh in at the general election. That means someone could prove popular within their own district and yet still lose to someone more popular among the population at large.

City officials have defended the system, saying it ensures all districts have local representation but that council members are responsive to all part of the city. But Wadsack contends the system isn’t fair.

“You have areas that have people that vote that are not in the area of interest,” she said. “In my area in particular, south Tucson should not be voting for city council members who are in Tanque Verde valley or are in another area that have no interest in what’s happening in their backyard.”

Sen. Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, said there’s no reason to put the question of how Tucson votes on the November statewide ballot. She said this is something that could be decided by voters in Tucson who could amend their city charter to alter the system.

“We tried,” Wadsack said. “Every time a petition or ballot initiative tries to go through they get so heavily scrutinized and they can’t seem to get those petitions approved.”

And she insisted Tucsonans really do want the system scrapped.

“The people have come in droves trying to change this for a couple of decades now, several decades,” Wadsack said. “And it just never gets across.”

That, however, doesn’t tell the whole story.

Proposals to scrap the “hybrid” system did make it to the ballot in 1975, 1991 and 1993. And each was rejected.

There also were some efforts more recently, including one last year. But both failed to get sufficient signatures to even put the issue to voters.

Wadsack, for her part, said she remains convinced allowing only those within a district to have the last word on their representatives is far better.

“It actually would be beneficial because the people that actually have the best interests of that district will actually be the voice of that district or that ward,” she said.

There also is a political component to all this.

Democrats outnumber Republicans on a city-wide basis by a margin of two to one. And that has made it difficult for a Republican nominated from any district to survive a general election.

In fact, there currently are no Republicans on the city council.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have sought to quash Tucson’s system of elections.

In 2009, Jonathan Paton, then a Republic state senator from Tucson, pushed through legislation that would have voided the modified ward system. It also would have barred cities from conducting local elections where the candidates’ political affiliations are listed on the ballot.

That measure was overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2012, The justices said Tucson, as a charter city, has a right under the Arizona Constitution to decide whether to conduct partisan elections and how to elect council members.

Undeterred, the Public Integrity Alliance filed suit in federal court on behalf of several Tucson Republicans charging the system was an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Attorney Kory Langhofer argued the system gives some voters more power than others and, in some cases, effectively nullified their votes.

That contention was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Tucson’s hybrid system for electing members of its city council imposes no significant burden on voters’ rights to vote,” the appellate court concluded. “And Tucson has advanced a valid, sufficiently important interest to justify its choice of electoral system.”

The U.S. Supreme Court put the issue to bed in 2017 when it refused to disturb the 9th Circuit ruling.

Wadsack has a backup plan that also would undermine Tucson’s electoral system.

Her SCR 1037, if approved by voters statewide, would strip any city of at least 500,000 of the right to have its own charter. And if Tucson is no longer a charter city, that would free up lawmakers to decide how its council can be elected.