Tucson will be allowed to continue holding partisan city elections, after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling. From Phoenix, KJZZ’s Mark Brodie reports.
MARK BRODIE: Tucson sued the state, after the legislature in 2009 approved a law that banned cities from holding partisan elections. The law also prohibited voters city-wide from electing council members who were nominated by specific districts. But the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the state constitution allows cities to follow their charters, as long as doing so complies with the constitution and federal law. Writing for the court, Justice Scott Bales said, “electors in charter cities may determine under their charters whether to constitute their councils on an at-large or district basis and whether to conduct their elections on a partisan basis.”