It’s Uber Zimmerman!
Litigious District 6 Councilman Don Zimmerman sued Mayor Steve Adler in his official capacity Thursday, challenging the outcome of the Proposition 1 election on the grounds the ballot language “misled voters and omitted main features” and did not conform to the required format, case caption information shows.
A copy of the lawsuit, apparently filed late Thursday, was not immediately available.
“I’m deeply concerned about how the process, about how that went down,” Zimmerman said, late Thursday. “What I noticed from the campaign is that both sides were confused by the ballot language — the people for it and the people against it.”
If you’re keeping score, this is the second lawsuit filed over ballot language; there are also lawsuits over the use of automated text messages sent during the campaign, and over claims that Uber and Lyft’s exit violated federal labor law. The full Statesman story adds some further details.
A statement from the city of Austin defended the ballot measure and its language, saying, “The City Council respected the citizen-initiated petition process and voted to call a May election. The council made every effort to ensure that the ballot language fairly represents the petition’s intent.”
“The city prevailed in the pre-election lawsuit filed on this same topic, and is prepared to defend the actions it took as part of this election process,” the city’s statement said.
Zimmerman and his lawyer, Jerad Najvar of Houston’s Najvar Law Firm, argue that “the City’s much-touted fingerprint background check regime” will be enforced too slowly and “lacks any enforcement teeth” even once it’s fully implemented.
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Zimmerman and Najvar asked in the suit that their complaint be consolidated with any other challenge to the same election to conform with a requirement under state law. They specifically cited the May 10 suit brought by Austin lawyer Martin Harry, who also objected to the city’s ballot language.
I still think the ballot language argument is dumb. Honestly, was there anyone in Austin who didn’t understand that Uber and Lyft wanted you to vote Yes on Prop 1? The proposition itself could have been written in Esperanto for all that it mattered. But as always, you never know what will happen once this sort of thing gets inside a courtroom. Engadget has more.