Texas Ballot Access Victory
January 28th, 2006On January 27, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that minor technical problems with petitions should not keep candidates off the ballot. The Court ordered two candidates for Judge of the Criminal Appeals court onto the Republican primary ballot. In re Holcomb, 06-40, and In re Francis, 06-42. One candidate was 5 signatures short (he needed 700) and one candidate made a typographical error on his petition.
February 1st, 2006 at 11:30 am
Yes, but would the Republican controlled Supreme Court have used similar logic had the issue not been Republican campaigns? I guess setting the precedent is good though.
February 20th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
The Republican-controlled Texas Supreme Court probably would have used the same logic if the slighted candidates before the Court had been Democrats. It would be interesting to see whether any of the Justices running for reelection (or election if they were appointed by the governor) have opponents who discuss this type of case. There were a number of Republican challengers to Republican incumbents who also were kept off the ballot by the state Republican Party, but were allowed back on by the Supreme Court.