On March 7, Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) introduced SB 1660. It changes the definition of a qualified party from one that got 2% for any statewide race at either of the last five elections, to one that got 10% in any of the last five election. If enacteds, it would remove the Libertarian and Green Parties from the ballot. Senator Hughes is chair of the State Affairs Committee, which will hear the bill. Thanks to Linda Curtis for this news.

The only states with a 10% vote test are Virginia and New Jersey. Alabama has a 20% vote test, but all other vote tests are 5% or below. The median vote test is 2%.

UPDATE: the Republican Party of Texas did not poll as much as 10% for any statewide office in 1912, 1914, 1934, 1938, and 1942.

If enacted, the bill would take effect on September 1, 2023. States in the past that made the definition of a party more difficult have always been careful to provide that the change doesn’t take effect until after the next election, but the Texas bill would remove parties without giving them a chance to meet the new requirement. Examples of the better approach are Indiana in 1980, Kansas in 1984, New Hampshire in 1996, North Carolina in 1948, and New York in both 1935 and 2020.

In 1982, when the Alabama legislature changed the definition of a qualified party from any organized group, to a group that had polled 20%, the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department told Alabama that the new definition could not take effect until after the 1982 election.