Update on Texas Republican Party Lawsuit to Take All Democratic Candidates Off Democratic Party Primary Ballot in Dallas County

Posted on by January 23, 2018
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This Dallas Morning News story tells the latest on the lawsuit filed by the Republican Party to remove all Democrats from the 2018 primary ballot in Dallas County. The Republican Party says the county Democratic chair did not sign the document letting the county elections office know which candidates to print on the primary ballot. Democrats have responded by saying the Republican Party does not have standing, and even if it did, the law does not require that signature. The case is Dallas County Republican Party v Dallas County Democratic Party, Dallas District Court, DC-18-821.

The overseas absentee primary ballot have already been printed.

Missouri Bill to Make Ballot Access for Independent Candidates More Difficult

Posted on by January 23, 2018
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Representative Dan Stacy (R-Blue Springs) has introduced HB 1233, the increase the number of signatures for a statewide independent from 10,000 signatures, to 2% of the number of registered voters. It also increases the number of signatures for an independent running for district or county partisan office from 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2% of the number of registered voters.

Stacy has also introduced HB 1232, which forbids “sore losers”. In 2012 Gary Johnson ran in the Republican presidential primary in Missouri, and he then appeared as the Libertarian presidential nominee in Missouri in November 2012. If HB 1232 had been enacted, Johnson could not have appeared on the November ballot.

Missouri Bill to Convert Open Primaries to Closed Primaries

Posted on by January 23, 2018
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Missouri Representative Dan Stacy (R-Blue Springs) has introduced HB 1345. It changes Missouri from a state with open primaries, to a state with closed primaries. The Missouri voter registration form does not now ask the applicant to choose a party, but in the future it would. A registered member of a party who voted in a closed primary would be unable to change party affiliation for at least one year after that primary.

The bill does not provide that a party that wants to let independents vote in its primary may do so, so the bill is unconstitutional as applied to that issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986 in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that parties may decide for themselves whether to let independents vote in their primaries.

The bill says that if a party wants an open primary, or if it wants to nominate by caucus, it can do that, but it must pay the cost of administering such a primary or caucus.