On August 17, Democrats sued the Texas Green Party and won a court order in state court, ordering party leaders to tell election officials that most of their 2020 nominees are “not qualified.” On Wednesday, the courts removed the candidates. The basis is that they didn’t pay the filing fees. But the law requiring candidates of convention parties to pay filing fees was enjoined a few months ago, although then the State Appeals Court stayed that ruling. See this story.
The ruling has no effect on the presidential race, but it removes all the Green Party’s other statewide nominees. At any time, the other panel of the State Court of Appeals could issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the filing fee.
WAR for EQUAL ballot access continues —
regardless of armies of USELESS MORON lawyers and judges who do not detect EQUAL in 14-1 Amdt.
— since 1868 a mere 152 years.
Assuming the Libertarian candidates also did not pay filing fees, are they at risk of being removed as well or is it too late for additional challenges?
A lot of Libertarian candidates in Texas did pay the filing fee. It is probably not too late for someone to challenge the ones who did not.
Rock – would they be covered if they paid after getting the nomination? I read at one time the SoS was interpreting the law as requiring a fee to even be considered by the convention delegates.
Charging $5K to have a name placed on a statewide ballot is bad enough, but having the state take $5K in order to grant permission to a non-state-funded convention doesn’t make any sense at all. What expense is the state trying to recoup?
One more reason to not vote for the Democratic candidates.
It is false that Republican and Democratic nominees pay a fee to be placed on the general election ballot.
They pay a fee to be placed on the primary ballot. The fees defray part of the cost of the party-administered primaries, which are heavily subsidized by the state. The filing fees are paid to the political party. It is not unknown for a candidate to write a check for the filing fee and another as a campaign contribution to the party.
Much of expenses of the primary are to the direct benefit of the party. Election clerks are selected by the political parties, and are essentially patronage positions. The county chairs also take a cut.
Sometimes the candidate nominated in the primary is replaced. The new nominee does not pay a fee because he is not running in the primary.
Candidates for convention nominated parties do not pay a filing fee because there is no primary to be paid for. Instead the party bears the cost of the conventions.
The only candidates who pay a fee in association with the general election are write-in candidates. But that is because no one nominates them nor do they require a petition.
@Eeyn,
The Democrat candidates (or their lawyer) are claiming that the regulations issued by the SOS that required the payment of a fee at the time of filing are still valid.
Under Texas statutes, party officials are performing a (state) ministerial duty when they are administering the nomination process. If a candidate files for the primary and his check bounces, or he is ineligible such as not residing in a district, or not being old enough, it is the legal duty of the party chair to keep the candidate off the primary ballot or if nominated to declare them ineligible for the general election ballot. If the party chair fails to act, they can be sued.
It is similar to a city election. If the city clerk failed to remove an ineligible candidate, you would sue the city clerk, and the court could order him to do so (or issue an order as if they did so).
The Democrat lawyer claimed that they brought the failure of the Green candidates to pay a fee to the attention of the Green Party chair and they failed to act. The court agreed.
If the Libertarian Party wins their state lawsuit, it will be on the basis that the regulations promulgated by the SOS contradict the clear language of statute. The SOS was required by statute to provide regulations. Failure to provide lawful regulations is no different than not providing any regulations at all. It would be way late to attempt to fix them now.
The Green Party may replace the ineligible candidates.
The Democrats apparently sued the wrong Green Party officials.