On May 10, U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled against Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Strayhorn. Yeakel said nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires the state to use random sampling, instead of checking all the signatures. Strayhorn v Williams, A-06-CA-205. Strayhorn had sued because the Secretary of State had initially said the job of checking all her signatures might take him until July or August. Strayhorn had argued that her campaign would be hurt if she weren’t officially on the ballot until then.

After the decision came out, Strayhorn claimed a moral victory, because now the Secretary of State says, even without random sampling, he will finish verifying the signatures in 4 or 5 weeks.

The court decision didn’t address the separate issue of whether it is constitutional for the state to forbid turning in additional signatures, after the first batch has been turned in.

Carole Strayhorn is currently suing Texas over a regulation that won’t permit multiple turn-ins of signatures. Although she turned in 223,000 signatures on May 9, she turned in another 6,000 on May 11, the deadline. The state accepted the 2nd batch even though it says they won’t count. Strayhorn’s action keeps that aspect of her lawsuit from being declared moot.

Among the signers in the 2nd batch were the signatures of a woman who signed on her hospital bed shortly before she died, plus the nurse in attendance.