On December 8, Texas Representative Drew Springer (R-Muenster) introduced HB 464, which would require candidates nominated by minor party convention to pay the same filing fees that major party candidates must pay to get on a primary ballot.

Traditionally, major political parties in Texas paid for their own primaries, and were only able to afford them by charging filing fees to candidates who filed to run in a primary. In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Texas filing fees for candidates who were unable to afford them, so Texas government started paying for the administrative costs of primaries. Candidates who can’t afford filing fees but want to run in a primary may submit a petition in lieu of filing fee.

Texas has never required independent candidates, or candidates nominated in a party convention, to pay filing fees. The bill says the filing fees would be paid into the general state fund. This bill, if enacted, would be very injurious to the Libertarian and Green Parties, which are ballot-qualified and always nominate by convention. Representative Springer is in his second term. He has never faced any opponent on the general election ballot. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

At the November 4, 2014 election, 4.6% of the voters supported minor party nominees or independent candidates for the office at the top of the ballot. “Office at the top of the ballot” means Governor, in states that elected a Governor. In other states, it is U.S. Senate. For the five states that had neither Governor nor U.S. Senate on the ballot, it means the office actually at the top of the ballot: U.S. House in North Dakota and Washington, Attorney General in Utah, Auditor in Missouri, and Secretary of State in Indiana. The District of Columbia is included and the vote for Mayor is used.

This is the lowest “other” share in a midterm election since 1994, when the “other” vote was 4.5%. One reason the 2014 “other” vote was lower is that late in the campaign season, independent candidates for Governor in South Carolina and Connecticut said they were withdrawing and recommended that the voters vote for one of the major party nominees. In Maine, the independent candidate for Governor said he was not withdrawing but said all his supporters who felt he wouldn’t win should vote for a major party nominee.

Another reason the “other” vote was lower is that California, which had provided 539,645 “other” votes for Governor in 2010, had since then switched to the top-two system, so it was literally impossible for any California voter to vote for anyone for Governor other than a Democrat and a Republican.

Besides California, the other states in which only a Republican and a Democrat were on the ballot for the top office are Alabama, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington..

Jurisdictions in which the 2014 “other” vote exceeds 10% of the total vote cast are: Alaska, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.

The April 2015 special election for Florida State House, district 64, will include only one candidate listed on the ballot, running against a write-in candidate. See this story. It is the same candidate who already won the seat in the November 4, 2014 election. His election was determined by the legislature to be void because his primary had been open to all registered voters, even though a write-in candidate had filed to run against him in the general election.