See this article for a description of the first day of the status conference in Perez v State of Texas. Although the state and the plaintiffs appear fairly close to settling the boundaries for state legislative districts, the article says no settlement is even close for U.S. House district boundaries. The status conference will continue on February 15. It seems somewhat likely that the Texas presidential primary cannot be held on a day other than the primary for every other office, because the state won’t pay for it and the counties can’t afford separate primaries.
It now seems inevitable that Texas will be required to substantially alter its ballot access procedures for independent candidates and unqualified parties. Texas is the only state that won’t let any minor party or independent candidate petitions be circulated until after the primary is over. As the primary day appears to get later and later, the Texas primary screen-out becomes increasingly impractical. The statute says the independent presidential petition deadline is May 14, 2012, but if that petition can’t be circulated until after the primary, the procedure is a nullity. The best guess for the date of the Texas primary now seems to be May 29.
At stake in the U.S.A. H. Reps. gerrymander districts — about a mere TRILLION dollars or more (AT LEAST 6 percent of the GDP) — in more or less regime taxing / borrowing / spending.
Texas does not permit convention-nominating parties to circulate the supplementary petition until after the precinct conventions. If they have sufficient attendance at the conventions which initiate their nomination process, they don’t need to have a petition. Just because you are not able to understand or accept Texas’s paradigm, does not mean it is invalid.
There are 9 statewide races other than the presidential election; SBOE elections; 100s of district and appellate and judicial races, and 100s of county races.
It is almost certain that there will be a statewide GOP runoff. The state and counties are already on the hook for those.
The congressional and legislative primary races are a relatively small part of the election, and only 21% have two candidates. It would cost nothing to hold the primary without these three races. It would actually save money since there would need to be less changes to election precincts.
Since the only federal races would be for president and senate, the overseas ballot is the same for an entire county, and it may be feasible to comply with the 45-day mailout for an April 17 election.
If legislative and congressional districts are known by the end of March, the contested races (remember only 21% are) could be added to the June 26 runoff. Very little cost to adding a few races to an election that will already be held.
If the legislative and congressional districts are still up in the air, give the parties the option to nominate by convention, hold their own primaries, or
hold them as special elections in November.
State laws says that convention-nominating parties should hold their precinct conventions on the 2nd Tuesday in March (13th). AFAIK, they are not under any sort of injunction. If Americans Elect doesn’t begin their petition drive on the 14th and finish by the 29th of May, it might be reason to void their petition.
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#4
Correct. The dates for the convention parties with ballot access have not been altered to date, and will proceed in March according to the TX Secretary of State.
http://sos.state.tx.us/elections/candidates/guide/minor.shtml
ANY lawyers for the minor parties and independents on emergency standby due to the gerrymander machinations in the various courts ???
— like the fighter pilots sitting in planes at various airbases ready for emergency takeoffs and emergency attacks on enemies/terrorists (due to the 911 events).