The List Manager writes, "Technically, I believe the new lines go
into effect Sept. 10, 2002. A question to knowledgeable list members: would
elections prior to Sept. 10 be held in the old ward boundary, and elections
after Sept. 10 and in the new lines? Here's a wild scenario: could you have
a pre-Sept. 10 primary and a post-Sept. 10 general election...with legal
ward lines switching in-between? It can happen, I think."
I disagree. I don't have any special expertise on this issue, I am
just thinking out loud without benefit of research, so hopefully someone
more knowledgeable can step forward and clarify the issue. But here is my
thinking:
The new ward boundaries take effect on the date of the primary, as
the List Manager says. But they apply only to any general election held
after that date, not to a special election filling a vacancy resulting from
the resignation of a Council Member elected in an earlier general election.
A special election filling such a vacancy would need to occur in the same
old ward that elected the Member who resigned.
Otherwise, the result would be a Council elected partly from the old
wards and partly from the new wards. That result is probably
unconstitutional as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause (the same
clause from which the "one person, one vote" principle derives, and the same
clause that requires redistricting to begin with). If a Council is elected
partly from the old wards and partly from the new wards, then some voters
will have voted in elections that elected two Members (the voters who lived
in the old ward of the resigned Member AND the new ward in which the special
election is held), and some voters will have voted in elections that elected
no Members (the voters who lived in old ward of the resigned Member, BUT NOT
the new ward in which the special election is held).
If that argument is correct, then the new ward boundaries can apply
only to a general election, when the whole Council is up. A special election
"relates back" (sorry, legal jargon) to the ward that elected the Member who
vacated the seat being filled.
Does anyone know how redistricting worked when the Council's terms
were staggered? That ought to help answer the question.
BRM
Brian Melendez
St. Anthony West (Ward 3)
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