The Arizona Supreme Court will decide on October 25 whether to hear the state’s appeal in State of Arizona v City of Tucson, cv11-0150. The issue is whether the Arizona Constitution protects the ability of cities to decide for themselves whether to hold partisan or non-partisan city elections. In 2009 the legislature passed a bill requiring all cities to use non-partisan elections. Tucson voters have consistently voted in favor of partisan city elections. Earlier this year, the city won a lawsuit in the State Court of Appeals against the new state law, but the State hopes the State Supreme Court will reverse that decision.

Tucson is the only city in Arizona with partisan elections.

Jonathan Bernstein has this commentary at National Public Radio’s blog, on the electoral college. He points out that, currently, the American constitutional system discriminates against residents of populous states, both in the U.S. Senate, and also in the electoral college. Five of the nation’s most populous states are either overwhelmingly Democratic, or overwhelmingly Republican. Therefore, the National Popular Vote Plan would return the system toward balance. Thanks to Kimberly Wilder for the link.

Last week, Denmark held national elections. R. Spencer Oliver, an American statesman living in Denmark, has this commentary on Denmark’s election system. Oliver feels Denmark’s election system is better than the system used in the United States. He notes voter turnout in Denmark’s recent election was 87.7%, and he also notes that Denmark, because of proportional representation, has eight parties in its Parliament.

Oliver was chief counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs between 1985 and 1993. Since 1993 he has been Secretary General of the International Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, more commonly known as the Helsinki Accords organization. In the Watergate scandal of 1972, he was one of the persons whose phone was tapped by Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. At the time, Oliver was a Democratic Party official. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.