Amend charter: primary/regular elections, district voting, ballot candidates

An Ordinance of the Council of the City of Knoxville to amend the Charter of the City of Knoxville, specifically Chapter 412 of the Private Acts of 1923 of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, entitled, “an act to incorporate the City of Knoxville and Knox County, Tennessee, and define the rights, powers and liabilities of the same; to fix the boundaries of said municipality, and repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act,” and all acts amendatory thereto, by amending Article VII, Sections 707(A), (B), and (C) so as to set a process for primary and regular elections of council members consistent with Public Chapter 391, Acts of 2023, including establishing that only voters within a city district shall vote in a council district election rather than all city voters electing district candidates in the regular election, and establishing that at large candidates may be elected in the primary with a majority of the votes rather than requiring the election of at large candidates in the regular election, and changing the candidates placed on the regular election ballot to candidates receiving the two (2) highest number of votes in the primary rather than the two (2) candidates with the highest number of votes, and further providing for the submission of this ordinance to the qualified voters of the City of Knoxville for approval as provided in Article XI, Section 9 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.(Requested by Councilmember Parker)