On August 26, the Texas Supreme Court issued an order in In re Keith Self, 22-0658. This is the case over whether Libertarians who didn’t pay the filing fee before being considered for a convention nomination in April 2022 should be removed from the ballot. The unanimous order says the Republican candidates who filed the lawsuit waited too long to sue. The Supreme Court also said that it is not adjudicating the matter of whether the fees should be paid. UPDATE: here is a news story.
This is the second election in a row in which the Texas state courts have ruled in favor of ballot access for minor party candidates who didn’t pay the fee.
The issue of the constitutionality of the fees is pending in federal court. The theory that they are unconstitutional depends on the idea that the purpose of filing fees is to keep ballots from being crowded. Texas has required filing fees for primary candidates for over a century, but never imposed filing fees on candidates nominated by convention until recently. There is no problem with “crowded ballots” in a convention setting. By contrast, primary ballots are capable of being crowded.
In addition, the Texas filing fee law says fees paid by primary candidates are given to the political party, but fees paid by convention candidates go to the government. Thanks to Jeff Harper and Linda Curtis for this news.
