Reprinted from the COMPASS, online news about Knoxville, TN. www.compassknox.com

On Nov. 5, Knoxville voters will likely choose how to conduct city elections beginning in 2025. Their options will become clearer on Tuesday, when City Council will decide which of three proposed Charter amendments will go on the ballot.

The city has an Aug. 22 deadline to get a referendum question on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Council members discussed the proposed amendments in depth during a workshop last Thursday. Time is of the essence, because getting a referendum onto the ballot requires Council to pass an ordinance on two readings and submit the question to the Knox County Election Commission no later than Aug. 22. 

The city has held elections using the same format since 1969. Voters in each of the six districts voted for candidates from their district in the primary, with the top two finishers moving on to the general election. In the general election, voters from across the entire city voted in all district races.

Last year, the state Legislature removed an exemption to state law that had enabled the city to hold citywide general election votes in district races. Moving forward, only voters within a district can vote for their district representative in both the primary and general elections. 

Council members are looking to amend the Charter to bring it into compliance with state law, though City Council Attorney Rob Frost told them Thursday that’s not technically required because the city has to follow state laws of general applicability.

“We don’t even need to change our Charter,” he said. “We’ll do what the state law says. We’ll comply.”

Leaving the Charter as is could create confusion, however, as it would outline a process that would no longer be followed in practice. 

Council members will be considering three amendments on Tuesday. Two of them — proposed initially by Council members Charles Thomas and Amelia Parker — would adopt the default process of holding district-only primaries and district-only general election races; the other, primarily sponsored by Councilman Andrew Roberto, would eliminate districts altogether, though it would impose regional residency requirements.

The Parker and Thomas proposals are similar enough that they could potentially coexist in the Charter, but neither would align with Roberto’s plan. Roberto’s proposal generated the most discussion on Thursday, mostly because it would end district voting in the primary.

The Thomas Proposal

Thomas has raised concerns about how the state legislation would affect voters in the 5th District, which he represents. The 5th District includes Oakwood-Lincoln Park, Lonsdale, Inskip and portions of Norwood and Fountain City in North Knoxville.

The city has two staggered four-year election cycles, which means elections are held every two years. Currently, the 5th District seat is on the same cycle as the mayor, municipal judge and the three at-large Council seats. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th District races are decided on the other cycle.

The amendment Thomas has sponsored would shift the 5th District seat’s election cycle to coincide with the other district elections. Without the change, 5th District voters would only go to the polls every four years because they wouldn’t vote at all on the cycle that includes the other districts.

“It’s obvious it’s unjust,” Thomas said.

His proposal would create a two-year term for the 5th District seat in 2027, the next time the seat would be on the ballot, which would then put it on the same cycle as the other district seats in 2029. Thomas is term-limited and wouldn’t be affected by the change.

The two election cycles that would result from adopting Thomas’ proposal would ensure that all city voters would be able to participate in all city elections. The races for mayor, municipal judge and at-large Council seats would be in one cycle, while the other would consist of all six district Council contests.

Thomas said on Thursday that some language in the proposal would need to be clarified on Tuesday prior to the vote.

The Parker Proposal

Parker’s plan is to accept the default primary and general election system for district races and change the rules for at-large contests by declaring that anyone who gets more than half the votes in the primary would be declared the winner without going on to the general election.

“In my opinion, what voters have been used to in the city is that you do not go up for a citywide vote if you can’t make it out of your district,” Parker said. “To some degree, district voters are determining who their representatives are.”

She said she would support moving to a Council made up of nine district representatives and no at-large members, but there isn’t enough time to look into that possibility this year.

Her proposal would also provide a new method for settling tie votes in primary elections. Currently, City Council votes decide who goes on to the general election in the event of a tie between second-place finishers. Parker’s plan would send all candidates who have the two highest vote totals on to the general election.

Her interest in reforming the tie-breaking system goes back to her first run for City Council in 2017, when she finished in a tie for second place in the 4th District primary with Harry Tindell behind Lauren Rider. Council members picked Tindell to face Rider in the general election. Rider won.

Knoxville Law Director Charles Swanson, however, cited a state law that gives legislative bodies the only authority to break ties in municipal elections.

“That is a law of general application that generally preempts whatever the city comes up with on its own,” he said. 

The Roberto Proposal

Roberto’s solution is the only one that retains at-large voting for current district seats in the general election. He achieved that by proposing that all nine Council seats be elected at large, both in the primary and general elections.

Under Roberto’s plan, the six districts would be renamed “regions,” and the six current district Council seats would each have a requirement that the representative live in the region. 

“We don’t have to make a change to any of those boundaries.”

For example, the 1st District would be renamed the South Region, and the person elected to that seat would have to live in the region, but voters citywide would vote in the primary. A citywide vote would also be held in the general election, as is done for the three current at-large seats.

Roberto noted that 16 other cities in Tennessee have similar election processes. The University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service reviewed and gave advice on the proposal, which he said complies with state law.

“It does so in a way that is the least change from what the voters in Knoxville are used to,” Roberto said. 

His proposal also would bring the at-large elections into alignment with the contests for mayor and municipal judge by deeming that any candidate who gets more than half the vote in the primary wins the seat without having to run again in the general election.

Some Council members had questions about the proposal’s possible impacts on minority representation. Parker, who is the only African American to win an at-large seat in the 55 years the current system has been in place, said the proposed change could be challenged under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The 6th District, which is the only majority-minority district in the city, has elected an African-American to Council every election since 1969 and most often the citywide vote reflects the district’s preference for the top finisher. 

Councilwoman Gwen McKenzie won both her elections as the 6th District representative in the citywide vote over well-funded white candidates, but she expressed a concern that district voters’ preferences could be overridden in an at-large primary.

“What could happen citywide, potentially, is the city pulling out two candidates that might not be the popular choice for the people who live in that district,” she said.

Thomas and Vice Mayor Tommy Smith said they support Roberto’s amendment. 

“I think this proposal is sound,” Smith said, because it presents less change and retains citywide accountability for all Council members. He also noted that today's diverse City Council, which has a female majority and three people of color among its nine members, is a product of that approach.

Thomas agreed, saying, “The bottom line is, what we had gave us the most diverse council we’ve ever had, and this is more similar to that than anything else on the table.”