On October 6, a Texas state trial court in Austin ruled that independent candidate Laura Thompson does have enough valid signatures to be a candidate for re-election to her seat in the State House of Representatives, district 120. The chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party, Manuel Medina, had sued the Secretary of State to remove her from the ballot. Medina argued that Thompson did not have 500 valid signatures, but the court disagreed.
In Texas, Democrats and Republicans need no signatures to get themselves on a primary ballot. The entire purpose of ballot access laws is to measure whether a candidate has a modicum of support. It is obvious that Thompson has voter support, because she won the special election a few months ago to fill her seat. Nothing could so illustrate the absurdity of U.S. ballot access jurisprudence than this case, in which the Democratic Party nominee hoped to be the only name on the November ballot, by removing her only opponent. UPDATE: see this story.
The special election was Top 2 style.
No, it wasn’t. The first round was an actual election, which was capable of electing someone. There was to be a 2nd round only if no one got 50% in the first round.
Under top-two, the first round is not an election. The first round can never elect anyone. It is just a popularity contest, to decide which two individuals are most popular, and then they are the only persons permitted to run in the election itself.
Due to ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymanders —
How many D/R robot party hacks (esp. incumbent hacks) in Nov. 2016 have NO R/D opposition for a house of the USA Congress or State legislature ???
The U.S.A. is now about *democratic* as a rock on the Moon.
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
All candidates had the same access to the special election ballot regardless of party affiliation. All voters could vote regardless of party affiliation.
ALL CANDIDATES HAVE TO MEET A RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR THE DISTRICT 120 POSITION—AND NOT
ALL CANDIDATES MET THAT REQUIREMENT FOR THE SPECIAL ELECTION
Mary,
Thanks for the interesting comment, which triggered a little googling. The Texas Constitution requires that representatives reside in their district for one year before their election. Ruth McClendon, the 20-year incumbent announced in September 2015 that she would not be running for re-election.
This resulted in at least three candidates moving to the district. A fourth candidate claimed to move back and forth between the district and another county, but was registered to vote in Comal County.
Filing for the full term was in December 2015, which gave candidates another 11 months to complete their residency before November 2016.
Representative McClendon then resigned her seat in January, and a special election was called for the next uniform election date which was in early May.
The Democratic primary was in March. Both of the candidates who advanced to the primary runoff in late May were not eligible for election in the special election. As it turned out, the only candidates who had run in the Democratic primary who also ran in the special election had finished 5th and 6th in the primary. The top two vote-getters in the primary were not eligible to be elected in the special election.
Summary time line.
September 2015 – McClendon announces she was not running for re-election triggers migration to district.
December 2015 – Filing deadline for those seeking nomination for 2016. Independent candidates must make declaration at this time.
March 1 – Democratic Primary.
May 7 – Special election.
May 24 – Democratic Primary Runoff. This also marks the beginning of the petition period for independent candidates.
August 2 – Special election runoff.
November 8 – General election.