Attorney Martin Harry filed a lawsuit — a draft of it was obtained by the American-Statesman — in Travis County state district court late Tuesday contesting the election’s outcome, alleging that the city violated election law by combining what should have been two ballot questions into one.
“I don’t think the voters knew what they were voting on,” said Harry, who is representing himself in the case.
He said voters should have been asked first whether they would like to keep or reject the city’s controversial 2015 ordinance and then whether they accepted Uber and Lyft’s replacement language. He also alleges that the ballot language drafted by the city staff did not match the instructions given by the City Council.
“While we are disappointed to be involved in litigation regarding last week’s election, and would rather be working with companies to help them provide safe and efficient transportation services, we are prepared to defend the lawsuit,” city Law Department spokesman Bryce Bencivengo said.
The lawsuit left Austin-based election lawyer Buck Wood stunned.
“I truly have never seen anything like this in my 40-plus years of doing election law,” said Wood, who reviewed a copy of the draft complaint for the Statesman. “I don’t think the court has any jurisdiction to throw it out on the ballot language.”
He added, “I don’t think he’s got a lawsuit here.”
Harry’s lawsuit asks a court to block the city from enforcing the ordinance that the City Council approved in December — which requires fingerprint-based background checks of drivers with ride-hailing apps, among other measures — unless another election is held.
I don’t care about any of the legalistic argle-bargle here. I just have one simple question: Is there a sentient human being anywhere on the planet who was unaware during the leadup to this election that a Yes vote on Prop 1 is what Uber and Lyft wanted, and that a No vote on Prop 1 is what Uber and Lyft did not want? The millions of dollars that Uber and Lyft spent on this election – which by the way included a number of phony claims about Prop 1 – all carried the message of “vote Yes on Prop 1”. That in a nutshell is what this race was about, and as such it is all anyone needed to know. If this lawsuit goes anywhere, it will be an utter travesty.
Yes, actually there were a lot of people confused by the ballot language, and it was written to be confusing.
And speaking of phony claims, the against against was full of that as well.
I am confused by the language of the post above. Should I file a lawsuit?