Texas HB 820 will get a hearing in the Texas House Committee that handles election law bills, on April 27, Monday. This is the bill that drastically reduces the number of signatures needed for new and previously unqualified parties, and independent candidates.
Texas is one of only 5 states with ballot access laws so difficult that, in 2008, Ralph Nader didn’t attempt to use them. The others were North Carolina, Oklahoma, Indiana and Georgia.
There are three things that could be done to improve ballot access in Texas without lowering the number of signatures. They are:
1) Increase the time period for petition signature gathering. Right now they only allow 70 days which is way too short.
2) Eliminate the primary screen out. Right now if person votes in the primary election (which is held before you can start gathering signatures on minor party and independent ballot acess petitions) they are prohibited from signing a petition to place a minor party or independent candidate on the ballot. This decreases the pool of potential petition signers which makes it more difficult. Texas is the only state in the country that has a primary screen out.
3) The way things stand right now in Texas, a registered voter can only sign a petition to place one minor party on the ballot and one independent candidate on the ballot. So, if there are two minor parties trying to get on the ballot at the same time or two independent candidates trying to get on the ballot at the same time it makes it more difficult to get on the ballot since if a voter signs for more than one minor party or more than one independent their signature is deemed invalid on one of the minor party petitions and one one the independent candidate petitions. A registered voter outght to be able to sign petitons to put as many minor party or independent candidates who are seeking spots on the ballot as they want to sign.
Activists tried very hard in 2007 to persuade the Texas legislature to drop the primary screen-out, but many Texas legislators have an almost religious devotion to it. So it’s better to give up on repealing the primary screen-out, and instead work for far fewer signatures.
#1 The primaries for larger parties and precinct conventions for smaller parties, including those seeking to qualify, are held at the same time. A voter may participate in the nominating activities of exactly one party.
If you really wanted to build a party, you would work to get voters to attend your party’s precinct conventions where they can actually participate in the nomination process.
75 days is the time you have to gather the lists of participants at the precinct conventions. Because Texas lets you supplement the lists with non-attendees you mistakenly think of that as the main activity.
You should work to permit party affiliation during early voting. Since early voting for the primaries is conducted by the counties, a voter could simply affiliate with a minor party rather than voting in the primary. The voter could then be given a paper with the time and location of their precinct convention in case they wished to help choose the party nominees.
The same could be done for independent candidates. Then the screen out would be inverted. A voter who signed a petition for an independent candidate for Hides Inspector could not vote in a primary contest for that office.