By Dustin Gardiner | The Arizona Republic
Arizona’s two largest cities have won a legal battle against the state to retain control over how they conduct elections for mayor and city council.
Phoenix and Tucson will not have to comply with a state law taking effect in 2014 that will require local governments to move their candidate elections to even-numbered years to coincide with statewide contests for president and governor.
A Pima County Superior Court judge on Tuesday afternoon released a ruling in the cities’ favor, issuing a permanent injunction that prevents Arizona from requiring either city to adjust the scheduling of its elections. He did not rule on the broader constitutionality of the law.
Judge James Marner determined that the law interferes with a matter of purely local concern: Phoenix and Tucson’s authority to determine how to conduct elections. He wrote that the state cannot require cities to conduct elections in a way that violates their charter, a legal document that establishes local governments.
