The Texas Secretary of State recently informed Americans Elect that the period for circulating the petition to get a new party on the ballot runs from March 14 through May 28. Because it is virtually certain that the primary will be on or after May 29, the Secretary of State says any registered voter may sign the petition. If someone who signed the petition then votes in the primary, the signature is valid. The requirement is 49,799 signatures.
This is the first time ever that a party can petition in Texas and get signatures from any registered voter, regardless of whether the voter voted in a primary or not. Texas has only required petitions for party access to the ballot since 1967. Before 1967, Texas let any party on the ballot without a petition, if it held a state convention and county conventions in at least twenty counties. UPDATE: as Jim Riley says in a comment below, if a Texas voter uses the state’s early voting procedures and votes in the May 29 primary during the two weeks before that primary, that particular kind of voter could not sign the party petition after having voted. Therefore, it is probably better if parties can manage to circulate their petitions before early voting starts.
The Texas Secretary of State’s web page still says that independent presidential candidates may not start circulating their petition until April 4, and that the independent presidential petition is due on May 14. However, that is outdated information. It was written and posted when the Secretary of State thought the Texas primary would be on April 3. Here is the Secretary of State’s web page that pertains to presidential candidates, as it is on February 19. Scroll down to the independent presidential section. The Secretary of State, or a court, will be required to set new procedures for independent presidential candidates, because the law says the petition can’t start until after the primary, but it also says that the petition is due the second Tuesday of May, which is May 8. It is obviously absurd to provide that a petition can’t start until after it is due.
A voter may affiliate with a party by voting in a primary, or participating in a party convention. The Democrats and Republicans have been discussing holding their precinct and county conventions earlier than May 29. In addition a participant in the conventions of the other convention-nominating parties (Libertarian, Green, etc.) may not sign the supplementary petition of another party.
There is also early voting two weeks before the primary date, and that would count as affiliation.
And a voter who signs the petition is ineligible to vote in a primary. There is a statement to this effect on the petition, and the petition circulator is required to point this out, and read it.
Nothing in the EVIL Texas gerrymander regime is *certain* until 5 of the SCOTUS 9 permit it to happen.
Obviously absurd stuff is the New Age normal/routine — i.e. in an INSANE/MORON political system by gerrymander MONSTERS.
P.R. and App.V. — to END the insanity — pending head to head math.
This is very good news for Americans Elect. It will provide visibility to AE during the petition gathering process and help to sign up new delegates before AE’s nomination process begins.
And hopefully some statewide media coverage of AE since there isn’t going to be any primary voting for at least two and a half more months.
#1
Jim, I am not sure if it would matter if a voter signed the AE petition and then voted “early” in the two weeks preceding the presumed May 29th primary date. Based on what Richard is indicating, the Sec of State has stated that “if someone who signed the petition then votes in the primary, the signature is valid.” I didn’t see anything on the Sec of State’s website regarding minor party petition, but as we know Mr Winger is very resourceful in getting pretty solid information.
The circumstances are quite special obviously and will certainly save time and money for AE due to not having to obtain as many petition signatures due to the primary screen out issue of potential primary voters invalidating their signatures.
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#4, I think Jim meant voters who first vote in the primary and then sign the petition. However, thinking about it, I don’t know how anyone would know what date any particular voter voted absentee. So, I don’t know how that voter’s signature on the petition could be invalidated.
#6 Most early voting in Texas is in person, in the two weeks before the election. If there were a March 6 primary in Texas, early voting would have begun today.
Around half of all votes in Texas are done during early voting. In larger counties there will be 10s of early voting locations, and a voter can vote at any of them. There is also early voting on the middle weekend. It is a lot easier for many persons to vote early than to vote on election day.
Early voting by mail is for cause only:
(1) Absence from the county during the entire voting period;
(2) Confinement to jail.
(3) Disability.
(4) Age (over 65).
The ballot envelope has to be sealed and signed by the voter. It might have to be dated (perhaps not disqualifying if it isn’t but probably on the envelope). Mail ballots from inside the country need to be received by election day poll closing time. Most such voters might not be easy to get signature on a petition anyhow.
The circulator would have to point out that someone who had voted, could not sign the petition; and that by signing the petition they can not vote in the primary.
Otherwise, a circulator might attempt to gather signatures at an early voting location. It is probably of dubious legality to encourage voters to do something that would make them ineligible to vote as they arrived to vote; and it wouldn’t make any sense to catch them as they leave.
There are local elections on May 12, but someone who bothers to show up for a city council election is probably a likely person to vote in the primary.
#4 You can only affiliate with one party, and the first affiliation is the valid one. Signing a supplementary petition is not really affiliating, but the consequences are the same.
If might not matter all that much. You probably are going to want moderately active voters. Those who vote in the general election at least often enough to stay registered but not really interested in other elections.
If petition signing were after the primary, you could ask the voter if they had voted in the primary. If they said yes, you thank them for their time. If they said no, you suggest they are independent minded and wouldn’t they like to help put a candidate who isn’t partisan on the general election ballot. Only about 1/3 of registered voters voted in the 2008 primaries.
With petitioning before the primary, there will be a larger potential pool of signers, but the circulator will have to tell them that signing makes them ineligible to vote in the primary. Some people will say they intend to vote, and won’t.
If someone signs the petition, and then votes, it is their vote that doesn’t count. If a party were trying to derail the AE petition, it might be pointed out to them that it was their responsibility to make sure a voter was eligible before accepting them to vote. If they say that the voter lied to them, you ask them whether they want to prosecute the voter. Most political parties are not too interested in prosecuting voters who supported the party enough to vote in their primary.
If there were some clear pattern of the circulators not pointing out the consequences of signing, it might be a problem. If 10% of the signers attempt to vote in the primary, it probably means that they didn’t understand. If 90% of the signers attempt to vote, the circulator didn’t do a very good job of explaining the petition.
Where it most likely show up would be in a very close primary election (recount close). The candidates aren’t going to care if they really upset a bunch of voters. They want to win. And even then, it would simply mean that the voter would be questioned who they voted for in the primary.
Again – is the TX SOS making LAWLESS stuff up — to deal with the LAWLESS gerrymander district machinations going on and on ???
Will ANY of the election stuff in Texas in 2012 be LEGAL ???
SCOTUS awaits with more Bush v. Gore 2000 hammers — for the many MORONS in ALL States.
#9 It is mostly the lawless federal court.
#10 Then where are the impeachments of the Fed judges in the gerrymander U.S.A. House of Reps. ???
For the naive — ALL of the major political systems in the U.S.A. are ANTI-Democracy gerrymanders — with the resulting 2012 gerrymander and other election law machinations in many/most States.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V. — before it is too late (which it may well be in gerrymander Texas).