Texas Newspaper Carries Op-Ed on Discriminatory Ballot Access Law

Posted on by May 21, 2025

The Seguin Gazette, a Texas newspaper, has this op-ed by Nolan Schmidt, criticizing the State House for narrowly defeating a bill to treat all parties equally. Currently when a Democrat or a Republican candidate pays a filing fee, the money goes to that candidate’s party. But when a Libertarian or a Green candidate pays the same filing fee, the government gets the money.

Comments

Texas Newspaper Carries Op-Ed on Discriminatory Ballot Access Law — 130 Comments

  2. Ussr yesterday and or az spambot = automatically means more lies. At least this time, it inadvertently admitted it. Whoops! Lol

  4. No, Mr. Schmidt… listen… a “filing fee” is a payment given to someone in order to have the receiver add something to their records. For example, filing a property deed with your town or county.

    Since major parties in Texas pay for their own primaries, they may charge a filing fee to candidates, in order to record the candidates’ names on their primary ballot.

    If the State Government does not pay for the primaries, then it may NOT charge or mandate a filing fee for that, since it is not the record-keeper. However, it does pay for the general election, so it may charge a filing fee to get on the general election ballot. Whether a party nominates by primary or by convention, that party would need to pay a filing fee to the State. An independent candidate would, too.

  5. Major parties in Texas do not pay for their own primaries. They did before 1974.

  6. The filing fee charged to convention candidates is not a general election filing fee. Even candidates who want to be placed in nomination at a minor party convention must pay the fee. A convention cannot consider anyone for nomination who has not paid the fee. So that fee is not a general election filing fee.

  13. @AC,

    When Texas adopted government-printed ballots in 1905, they permitted nomination by primary or convention. More successful parties (Democrats) were required to nominate by primary. Other parties could nominate by primary or convention, but had to pay for their own primary.

    Primary-nominating parties also held precinct conventions after voting was completed on primary election day (4th Saturday in July). Voting at the time was by paper ballot with votes tallied at the precinct level. The precinct convention would choose delegates to the county convention held a week later. The county convention would choose delegates to multi-county district conventions, and the state convention. For the 1906 election there was no runoff primary. If a candidate did not receive a majority, the nominee was determined at a convention. The 1906 Democratic gubernatorial candidate was chosen at the state convention after a 4-candidate primary did not determine a winner.

    The majority requirement for nomination was eliminated in 1907. The primary runoff was introduced before the 1920 election.

    Convention-nominating parties held their primary (precinct) conventions on the same day, electing delegates to their county conventions, which elected delegates to multi-county district conventions and the state convention. The actual nominations were made at these later conventions.

    The dates of the primaries and conventions were set in state law. Participation was also regulated. The primary election and primary conventions for each party were held in locations separated by at least one football field length (100 yards) apart. Voters would have their poll tax receipt initialized, marking them as having participated in the nomination process. One reason that Texas does not have partisan registration, is that the poll tax was assessed and paid annually. A voter would be issued a new poll tax receipt when (if) they paid the poll tax. When voter registration replaced the poll tax in the 1960s, the current practice of issuing a voter registration certificate every two years was begun. A voter is effectively granted absolution every two years. When they vote in a primary or participate in a primary convention their certificate is (or may be) stamped with the party name.

    Each party was required to pay for their own nomination activities, which were fully separated. For the Democratic primary, candidates had to file in advance so that their names could be printed on the official ballot. After filing, each county party would estimate the cost of their primary, and assess the filing fee on their candidates.

    This practice was continued until 1972 when the SCOTUS in Bullock v. Carter determined that some of the filing fees were so exorbitant that they violated equal protection since some candidates (or their supporters) would bear the cost of participating in the electoral process. You may not be aware that you were implicitly citing this decision.

    At that time, primary filing fees were established in state law. Candidates continued to pay their filing fee to the county party which would use the money to fund their primary. The State of Texas would make up the deficit.

    There are some situations where Democratic and Republican candidates are not nominated by the primary process. These candidates pay no filing fee to be placed on the general election ballot. NO candidate pays a filing fee to be placed on the general election ballot. These elections are totally funded by county governments. Nominees of Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green party qualify for the general election ballot by virtue of having been nominated through the state-dictated election process. The only candidates who pay a filing fee for a general election are write-in candidates.

    There was (and is) no reason for candidates to file before seeking nomination by convention. No ballots are printed. At a convention, the delegates can simply nominate who they want to nominate.

  14. Can anyone here program a spambot to counterprogram the AZ spambot, but using Real News sources such as Lindell TV, Infowars, Babylon Bee, OAN, RT News, Tsargrad, Sputnik News, Not The Bee, Babylon Bee, Breitbart, Tucker Carlson, The Real Donald Trump, IPRX, 4chan /pol/, Antiwar.com, Breaking911, Revolver News, RSBN,
    Summit News, The Post Millennial, VDARE, etc?

  16. I’m currently planning to vote for Biden in 2028 if there’s still an election and if I’m still alive and voting.

  17. Which Biden? Joe (RIP)? Hunter? Hunter’s laptop? Hunter’s pipe? Little Hunter? Little Joe? Jill? Lil Jill? Joe’s Brother? Joe’s Brother’s boner? …

  18. Good question. If there’s no Biden on the ballot I might just write in Biden and let them figure out which Biden I meant. Or maybe Ashley. Big Ashley, not little Ashley. Idk.

  20. Maybe Kamala, Tim, or if worst comes to worst whoever the Democratic Party nomination goes to.

  21. Someone like Mahmoud Khalil, Elias Rodriguez, Leonard Peltier, Abrego Garcia, Chris Chan, Luigi Mangione – so many great choices I could never list them all! Free free Palestine!

  22. Trump, Trump Jr, JD Vance or Elon Musk. Or maybe Melania Trump, a la Evita Peron, Lurleen Wallace, etc.

  23. Michael/Michelle Obama. I don’t care whether he/she agrees to run or not.

  25. Whoever the libertarian worker’s party of Korea nominates regardless of whether it’s Kim Jong Un or Kim Yo Jong. I’d even vote for Kim Sol Song, just as long as the Party nominates her. The individual is nothing, the party is everything!

  27. I would also like to see a Kim run. Maybe Kim Kardashian, Kim Petras, Kimberly Denise Jones (Lil Kim), Kim Richards, Kim Basinger, Kim Cattrall – really any Kim will do.

  28. Who is confused planning on voting for? I’m thinking maybe Spambot AZ or Dead Man Jones.

  30. I’m going to vote for Andy. Not sure which Andy yet. Maybe Andy Gonzalez, Andy No Last Name, or Andy Dick. I always like to keep a dick Andy, whether it’s mine or not.

  32. Silly fools. There won’t be any more POTUS elections. Not even pretend elections.

  34. I’m not going to vote regardless of whether I’m allowed to or not. Workers revolution is the only solution!

  35. Lord Jesus Christ aka Mister President God Emperor Donald John Trump Senior!

  44. Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin would be ideal. In reality, most likely JD VANCE, but it’s way too early for a real guess.

  45. I’ll strongly encourage NATHAN NORMAN to run, especially if Robert Milnes is willing to be on the ticket.

  48. If I was voting in the USA, it might be for Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug).

  53. Stock, because I’m totally obsessed with Stock. If you think about it, everybody is Stock.

  55. @Jim Riley and Richard Winger
    Thanks for the historical context and corrections. But when it is said that the filing fee is given to the major parties to help pay for their primaries, that implies that the parties pay for their primaries.

    If parties are public, then there can be no such thing as an official party organization, and if the government gives them money, that is laundering of public funds. Unless we are saying that party organizations are official departments of the executive branch of government.

  58. The real Donald TRUMP of course!

  59. I’d put a nice thick cockring on it and I’m voting for Johnny Cockring!

  60. AZ is voting for USSR Yesterday, or possibly wasting money on producing and hoarding worthless kopecks.

  62. “But when it is said that the filing fee is given to the major parties to help pay for their primaries, that implies that the parties pay for their primaries.”

    You ain’t from Texas, is u, boy?!

  63. June 14 will be awesome! A long overdue celebration of our military heroes on the 250th anniversary of the US ARMY!

  66. A White man who’s proud of both being White and being a man.

  68. ArYanna Huffandpuff is going to vote for Trump despite whatever lies she tells you.

  69. Washington D.C. should be renamed after Libqerator Trump and I’m voting for him in 2028.

  73. You can’t please all the people all the time, but I’ll vote for Trump.

  79. I’d vote for a “dictator” Who will cut the crap out of government.

  89. I’ll vote for Trump, every minute, every hour, Trump to the heart but it’s still White Power!

  106. Who’s pushing for war? Hint; it ain’t Trump

    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/05/doug-casey/neocons-and-their-push-for-the-next-big-war/

    Excerpt:

    International Man: Trump and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, have recently called out the neocons by name.

    Figures like Douglas Murray have suggested the term ‘neocon’ is the new n-word. Mark Levin has gone so far as to label its use anti-Semitic.

    Why are some neocons using accusations of racism to shut down legitimate and important discussions?

    Doug Casey: A great way to shut down any discussion today is to call your opponent a racist. And this has some grounding with neocons because a large majority of them—just like a large majority of intellectuals in general—are Jews. Neocons are reflexively pro-Israel as well. I listened to Mark Levin go on a rant about this on his show recently; he was practically frothing at the mouth in anger.

    It’s odd that people consider it racist to stereotype any group and decry that as a bad thing. It’s not. Stereotypes develop because they reflect reality. Members of stereotyped groups often prefer to pretend that we’re all equal, and their group is just like anyone else. But it’s a fact that birds of a feather flock together.

    It’s unfortunate that almost all the leading neocon intellectuals are Jews.

  111. Thank the humans here for your support:

    Well I’m Donald Trump, the one they’re talking about, if you talk crap about me you’ll get punched in the mouth.

    If you disrespect me, forget about it, forget it. Best case for you is you’ll survive to regret it.

    I’m the Boss of all Bosses, King of all Kings. I bring the world hope, I’m why we have nice things.

    Last time I took human form, I got crucified. This time around, I won’t be so nice.

  112. No thanks to the Spambot azz for its ridiculous opposition.

    One great reason to vote for and support me is to stop illegal spambot voting and illegal voting in general from swamping and stealing our elections.

    If you think bad about me, stop trusting fake media. Go to conservapedia.com and read conservapedia.

    https://www.conservapedia.com/Donald_Trump

    But even if you’re not smart enough to, or have no eyes to see, you’re still smarter than to take seriously the spambot “AZ”

  113. Thank you Mr. Trump for being our greatest POTUS in a long time and quite possibly but not definitely but very probably soon greatest ever

    https://www.conservapedia.com/Donald_Trump_achievements

    Let’s keep it going y’all!

    86 46! Keep 47 to Keep America Great, 14/88! Thank God for Trump – the only reason it’s not too late!

  114. I’m supporting Trump for all the reasons everyone else gave and many more. I’m thinking a youngster like Vance or Trump Jr will be even better, but we’ll see.

  115. Hey y’all

    Imo – fwiw – ymmv – etc

    The very, very best reason to support Trump is that the derp state, fake news, globalist elitist axis of evil is big big big mad at him:

    truthjihad d0t c0m forward slash 2025 forward slash 05 forward slash 17 forward slash james-comey-finds-more-cool-seashells

    Sure, he’s far from perfect, but you have to start somewhere. Small moves are a necessary precursor to bigger and bigger ones in either direction – which direction has momentum is what’s important. Trump is the direction of good, freedom, liberation, truth, honesty, salvation – and demon rats are the exact opposite. It’s both earlier and later than you probably think.

    In this case, the derp state is exemplified by the corny commie comet comey, selling seashells to hashishin by the seashore. The examples are as many as grains of sand on all the world’s beaches, but just watch who lines up on which side…

    How far can we get by 2028 and who will be the best electable choice then? Let’s get to 2028 and we’ll see. …

  116. Video at link

    https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/tucker-carlson-harmeet-dhillons-war-on-the-discrimination-against-white-christians-and-doj-corruption/

    Text description from link

    The Trump administration is a revolutionary, transformative presidency. It seeks to restore the American republic to its original constitutional status as the guardian of rights and liberties by forcefully challenging the despotic tyranny and regimentation of the governing elites composing the regulatory captured bureaucratic administrative state and its corrupt crony enablers, particularly in Big Pharma, the warmongers of the military industrial complex, and the invasive surveillance/intelligence deep state at the core of this infamy. Along with Vice President J. D, Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice Harmeet Dillion fully understands her crucial role in confronting and eviscerating the deep state and its institutional actors and covert appendages. This long-standing, pervasive, insidious corruption demands the commanding attention she is providing in rooting it out root and branch.

    The National Security Deep State, driven by the imperial presidency, an acquiescent congress and a complacent federal judiciary, has destroyed the American Republic. Their egregious welfare-warfare state, enabled by the Fed, fosters and promotes the profligacy and dependency which is at the root of this destructive process. Because of its clandestine nature and covert linkages to organized crime syndicates worldwide, ruthlessness, assassinations, regime change, drug and human trafficking, extortion and racketeering, money laundering, cyber-crime, and corruption are not aberrations or breakdowns of the deep state, but absolutely endemic to it.

  118. Why is TDS (TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME) as exemplified above and perhaps below by the AZ SPAMBOT so toxic, dumb, and suicidal to America, humanity, Christian and European based civilization, carbon based life, our planet, and all of God’s creation?

    https://notthebee.com/article/giant-trans-flag-unveiled-at-yosemite-to-teach-trump-a-lesson

    These unholy monsters must and shall be destroyed in the name of Jesus and all that is righteous and sacred!

    Trump may not be Lukashenko or Putin, but look. Who hates him and why?

    He must be supported because of who opposes him until he can realistically be replaced with someone even better.

  120. Why is everything the AZ SPAMBOT posts so inverted from reality as well as so completely dumb and ridiculous?

  121. That’s how the troll moron that programmed the AZ SPAMBOT – Lucifer, aka Satan aka the devil etc – designed its AZZZ 666 spambot. The more you read and interact with its garbage in , garbage out output, the dumber and less sane you become. That’s all by beelzebubs design.

  122. Trump is saving America from this crap and worse , and thus saving us all from destruction and hell on earth. That’s why Satan and his AZ spambot hate and fear Liberator Trump so much.

    https://notthebee.com/article/80-of-french-women-want-troops-on-the-streets-to-protect-citizens-from-drug-trafficking

    know the cities in France are no longer safe when you see stats like this.

    4 out of 5 French women want a militarized society with French military on the streets due to the prevalence of drug trafficking.

    …

    According to a CSA poll conducted for CNews, Europe 1 and JDD, 76 percent of French people overall want the army called in to battle drug trafficking in ‘disadvantaged neighborhoods.’

    In fact, women are more supportive of troops being deployed than men, with 80 percent of women saying yes to the question: ‘Should the army be called in to combat drug trafficking in troubled neighborhoods?’ In turn, only 72 percent of men supported such an action.

    …

    72% of men and 80% of women want the army on the streets of France rooting out the drug traffickers and cleaning up the streets. Does it get any more obvious that this that there are major safety issues in their country?

    …

    France has seen an 86% increase in sexual violence in the last decade, driven overwhelmingly by migrants.

    Now, nearly half of French people want NO immigration at all.

    Unfortunately, the French are getting the consequences of the policies they keep voting for…

    Let’s not be like France! Save Trump so He can keep saving US!

  123. Satan and his AZ SPAMBOT want us all to be (like the) cheese eating surrender monkeys and demon rats in the war between civilizations (or more accurately between civilization and barbarism) as well as the war between Heaven and Hell.

    They hate and fear Trump because he is our Liberator, Savior, Protector, Great White Hope and Champion.

    Don’t fall for it!

    FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

  125. Yet nother reason we need Trump. He has Jewish grandkids, a Jewish son in law and converted Jewish daughter.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/man-clarifies-that-free-palestine-means-palestinians-should-be-free-to-kill-the-jews

    Thanks G-d and Trump for the Abraham accords and defending Israel, American Jews, and Christian/European based people’s, and in drawing together and defending our common interests and Judaeo-Christian values against islamofascists, Marxists, fabians, atheists, African and Asian Supremacists, etc.

  130. USSR Yesterday is distorted propaganda BULLSHIT. DOGE will help fix the federal monster bureaucracy so it won’t stand in the way of shutting down such propaganda outlets or at least destroying the axis of evil which allows their distortions of reality to infect the public mind.

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