Kathleen Dunbar is running for re-election to her Ward 3 seat on the Tucson City Council but she says she would just as soon not have to run as a Republican. She doesn't want any of the council candidates to run with party affiliations.

Dunbar, who is also serving as vice mayor this year, says she's had enough dealing with party partisan politics on the council. She's mulling over the idea of introducing a proposal to change the city charter to allow for open primary elections so the candidates' political parties would not be considered.

"I think it's high time that we drop party politics," she said. "We are one of the few cities in the country that still elects its council members by party affiliation. Every one of us is identified by our party, instead of identified only as a representative of the city."

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Dunbar said the city charter mandates that primary elections be partisan. But her proposal would put all candidates on the same primary ballot, and all eligible voters would be allowed to vote for any of the candidates. Then in the general election the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would face off, under her plan.

Former Mayor Thomas Volgy, a political science professor at the University of Arizona, doesn't like the idea and warns the change may lead to voter apathy.

"When a city makes that shift from a partisan election to a non-partisan election, voter turnout goes down quite dramatically," he said. "I can't think of a single instance where the voter turnout actually goes up after such a change."

Dunbar counters "This is about the way we elect our council. I think we should take personality or party out of the equation and it should be just about ideas and accomplishments for a candidate without the D's and R's."

To her point, Dunbar said she's even considering becoming an independent for this year's re-election. Fellow Republican Fred Ronstadt and Democrat Steve Leal are also up for re-election in their wards.

Leal isn't so sure about Dunbar's idea.

"It's a fact that non-partisan elections produce a smaller turnout," he said. "And if the legitimacy of a government is based on the degree to which the public participates in the franchise, then the government would be illegitimate. I think taking party out of it changes the debate, and I believe that the marketplace of ideas shrinks up a little bit."

Volgy said Tucson city elections have voter turnouts from 40 to 100 percent higher than those in Phoenix, which are non-partisan.

"Is all that due to the partisanship? Not necessarily," he said. "But one of the identifying clues for candidates is their party affiliation. If that's dropped, voters tend to get confused and when they get confused, they won't vote."

When asked about changing the election process further to eliminating the wards, Dunbar hesitated.

"I am open to taking a look at it, but our first obligation is to the ward," she said. "However, every one of us has responsibility to every taxpayer, every voter in this city."

Currently, candidates for City Council are nominated by each of the six wards but are elected city-wide.

She was also asked about changing the charter to allow for ward-only balloting instead of the city at-large. Republicans Dunbar, whose Ward 3 covers north central Tucson, and Ronstadt, whose Ward 6 covering east central Tucson, were elected to their seats despite voter registrations favoring

"You never heard that the city-wide election was a problem when the city had an all-Democratic council," Dunbar said. "But now that three Republicans have been elected, the Democrats have been adamant about election by ward. I wouldn't change that aspect of things, because we're the ones who decide how to spend our taxpayers' money, and we shouldn't be responsible to just one part of the city."

Republicans hold the majority of voters in only two wards, north east Ward 2 and south east Ward 4. But it's a slim majority. Of over 48,000 and 41,000 voters respectively in each of the two districts, the Republican registration edge is only about 1,000.

Volgy said that a non-partisan election, which pushes low voter turnout, favors two groups.

"The incumbents are favored, and the person who represents the ‘smaller' (minority) party," he said. "Historically in Tucson, the Republicans have always pushed for this, and Democrats have always moved against it. But the Republicans may even look harder at it because they're about to become the second minority, as independent voters are almost even with Republicans."

That has already happened. There are 64,721 registered voters in the city who didn't declare a party affiliation. Republican registration is 62,001. Tucson City Manager Mike Hein has worked in five jurisdictions that had different mechanisms. He said he hasn't noticed a difference in politics or in accomplishments from partisan or non-partisan governing bodies.

"All of the groups I've worked with have been good people who were focused on the perception of working for the public good," he said. "But if you develop a process that doesn't reflect the public at-large, that's where you can run into problems."

Volgy said a prospective smaller turnout may cost the city its truly representative government. "When turnout is low, that tends to create a larger role for special interests," he said. "Special interests can influence a smaller constituency more than a larger one, so then it gets more and more difficult to have a representative government.

"And with a small turnout, candidates may be more extreme to the left or the right in terms of their views, whereas if more voters turn out, candidates will tend to be more moderate to reach out to a larger share of the electorate."

David Woodburn may be contacted at dwoodburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4239.