A Republican state lawmaker wants all local elections, from city councils to water boards, to be partisan.
HB2317, sponsored by Rep. Jay Lawrence of Scottsdale, would require ballots to include party designations for elections that are currently nonpartisan, including city and town councils, school boards, special taxing districts and water conservation districts.
Lawrence said he thinks voters should have the most information possible when casting a vote for these offices, and that’s why the ballots should include a party affiliation.
Arizona cities and towns may not support any changes to the way they do business because they prefer the status quo, Lawrence said.
Courts have upheld municipalities’ ability to set up elections however they choose and affirmed that these elections are a matter of local, not statewide, concern. In 2010, Tucson sued the state after the Legislature passed a bill that prohibited partisan local elections and did away with the city’s hybrid election system.
A federal appeals court decided in 2016 that Tucson’s system of primary elections by ward, then running for office at-large in a general election, was legal and didn’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said the local elections are strictly a matter of local concern.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, agreed the matter shouldn’t be up to the state.
“Local elections should be run locally without state interference,” he said.
The primary business of local governments is delivering services like water, garbage and public safety, which isn’t partisan, he said.
Information from Arizona Capitol Times
