Glenn Rogers, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News, has this column, explaining the Texas ballot access laws for independent candidates and criticizing them.
One point he failed to make is that before 1967, Texas did not require any petition for new or minor parties to get on the ballot. They merely needed to hold a state convention and county conventions in at least twenty counties. Yet Texas did not have crowded ballots before 1967. Texas never had a government-printed general ballot with more than six parties.
Rogers is mistaken to say George Washington hated political parties. Washington criticized “the spirit of party”, i.e., partisanship. Washington was head of the Federalist Party during his administration, but he was careful to have cabinet members from both parties. The chief division between the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party in the 1790’s was over foreign policy. The Federalist Party was horrified by the French Revolution, but the Democratic-Republican Party was not.
Glenn Rogers was a Republican representative in the Texas House from 2021-2025.
In 2021, he voted for SB 2093 which imposed a tax on Libertarian and Green party candidates, merely to be considered for nomination. There is no reason for candidates for nomination by primary to file in advance of the convention in the first place, let alone pay a tax to the state to the state for that privilege. The only reason for that paper in the first place is the Democratic Party was sore that John Tower was about to be elected US Senator from Texas.
John Tower was nominated by the Republican State Convention in 1960. He ran against Lyndon B. Johnson in the US Senate Race. Johnson was also running for Vice President. Tower’s campaign used the jingle, “Double your pleasure, double your fun — vote against Johnson two times, not one!” Tower ran credibly in the senate race receiving 41% of the vote. When LBJ resigned his senate seat to take office as Vice President, there was a special election to fill the seat. Tower simply kept running, while a bunch of Democrats ran for the open seat. For a current office holder running in a special election there was little risk, since they could continue serving there other office. Jim Wright, a 3-term congressman ran in the special election. After losing in the special election, he continued to serve in the US House for another 28 years, eventually becoming House Speaker. The Democratic legislature (181 D, 0 R) somehow thought this gave an advantage to the Republicans who could respond to the primary and nominate a stronger candidate. If this strategy was actually used, it was not effective (see 181 D’s in the legislature). Tower had been running for Senate long before the state convention. In addition, the Republicans never nominated by primary after 1960.
In 2023, Rogers voted for SB 994, which made failure to pay the tax an eligibility issue and permitted the SOS to kick a Libertarian who had not paid the tax off the ballot.
Texas should use the system used for special elections.
Voters have the right to consider all candidates for any elective office without censorship of candidates by fees or petitions. This can be done with a voter verifiable write-in only general election ballot. It means no party primary sore losers laws. The voter could verify their ballot had not been tampered with by the Chaum Secret Ballot Receipt. A write-in only ballot cannot be “over crowded” because no names appear on the ballot until the voter puts one name for each office on the ballot. The only “over crowding” would be because the state prints too many offices on the ballot. When a voter cast their ballot should know which candidate they prefer and if that candidate is affiliated with a political party.The voters need not be channeled by party labels on the ballot. The write-in ballot is an open ballot without prior censorship of choice by incumbent partisans. I call this ballot the Liberty Ballot.
NOOO EXTREMIST PRIMARIES/CAUCUSES/CONVENTIONS FOR OFFICE NOMINATIONS
ONE ELECTION
EQUAL NOM PETS / FILING FEES FOR CAND BALLOT ACCESS
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PR – LEGIS
APPV- EXECS/JUDICS
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/politics/republicans-midterm-redistricting-war-democrats
Republicans are poised to finish this year’s redistricting war 10 seats ahead of Democrats
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THE TOTALLY RIGGED ELECTION ROT
ONLY EXTREMIST PRIMARIES NOW MATTER
@DFR,
Does the Chaum ballot require special ballot paper?
How does a voter know if his ballot was counted for the candidate preferred by the voter?
What if no candidate receives a majority of the vote?
There’s no ballot like no ballot.