On June 30, the Texas Secretary of State filed a reply brief in Bilyeu v Esparza, w.d., 1:21cv-1089. The issue is the Texas law on how filing fees are handled. When a major party candidate pays a filing fee, the money is given to that candidate’s party. But when a minor party candidate pays a filing fee, the government keeps the money. The Libertarian Party argues this violates equal protection.
The state says equal protection doesn’t apply because major parties and minor parties are not situated similarly. The state says major parties have more voter support than minor parties. Of course, this is generally true all over the nation. If this theory were sound, than no minor party could ever win an equal protection lawsuit. Here is the state’s brief.
Under the primary system adopted in 1905, the only state involvement was to prescribe the format of the primary. Each party that held a primary funded its own primary. Polling places were separated by the length of a football field (100 yards). Party officials in each county would estimate the cost of the primary, and assess each candidate a filing fee. If the candidate did not pay the fee they would not be printed on the ballot. Expenses would be printing of ballots, and pay for election judges and clerks. Since the judges and clerks were party members, they might well volunteer their time. When the nominees had been determined, their names would be released to newspapers and certified to county clerks and the Secretary of State so that they could be placed on the general election ballot.
Convention-nominating parties had a parallel system. But since there was no need to print ballots, there was no need to file in advance. The presiding officer of the convention that made a nomination would certify the nomination to the Secretary of State or county clerk as appropriate.
Between 1906 and 1960, the Republicans only nominated by primary in five of 28 elections. No Republican ever had to file in advance of a convention, let alone pay a license fee to the State merely to be considered for nomination.
To vote in a primary or participate in a convention, an eligible voter had to have paid their poll tax, making them a qualified voter. The same requirement was made of candidates, since to hold office a candidate had to be a qualified voter. Texas does not permit the name of a person who is not qualified to hold an office to be placed on a ballot for that office. In effect the fee paid to be considered for nomination is a poll tax.
nonstop failure to bring up 1954 Brown v Bd of Ed in 1968 SCOTUS case >>>
mere 32+25 = 57 years of nonstop losing ballot access cases by 3rds / Indees
Individual candidates on ballots — NOT *parties*
The bot is so predictable and wrong.
In 1960, Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) was simultaneously seeking re-election to the US Senate and election as Vice-President. Texas had changed its election laws to permit his name to be printed twice on the general election ballot. This is an exception that only applies to presidential and vice-presidential candidate. Johnson was renominated to senator in the May 7, 1960 primary. Texas did not have a presidential primary at that time, but Democrats were urged at precinct conventions to choose delegates that would support the nomination of LBJ for president. At the Democratic National Convention in July, John Kennedy (JFK) was nominated for president, and he offered the vice-presidential nomination to LBJ, which LBJ accepted.
The Republicans at their state convention nominated John Tower to be their senatorial candidate. Tower ran on a slogan of “double your pleasure, double your fun — vote against Johnson two times, not one.” Tower ran a credible race against LBJ receiving 41% of the vote. Richard Nixon likely would have defeated JFK in Texas but for LBJ being the vice-presidential candidate.
Early in 1961, LBJ resigned his Senate seat to become Vice President, triggering a special election. 71 candidates filed, including five prominent Democrats and John Tower. As it became clear that Tower might qualify for the special election runoff, the Legislature passed HB 58, which required that persons seeking nomination by convention file an application for consideration at the same time primary candidates file.
HB 58 said it gave “undue advantage” to convention-nominating parties, that they could choose their nominees a few weeks after the primary-nominating parties had held their primary. At the time, the Legislature consisted of 150 Democratic representatives, and 31 Democratic senators, and zero Republicans. It was widely recognized that this was an anti-GOP bill.
“Primary-nominating” at the time mean “Democratic”; and “Convention-nominating” meant “Republican” and other minor parties.
Tower would go on to win the special election, becoming the first Republican senator from Texas since 1877, and first ever by popular election.
The application was made to the party officials who would be conducting the convention. The State of Texas was not involved in any way, just as they were not involved in primaries. HB 58 also required potential independent candidates to file a declaration of intent to petition.
Ironically, the RPT never nominated by convention after 1960. No Republican ever paid a filing fee to be nominated by convention. Now the Republicans seek to require a filing fee for Libertarians and Green, and other would-be third party candidates.