How To Give A Write-In Candidate An Advantage?
Keeping Texas-22
By Erick Posted in 2006 — Comments (16) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is not the easiest name to remember for a write-in, but she is the candidate the Texas GOP settled on to keep Tom DeLay's seat out of the hands of Nick Lampson. Ms. Sekula-Gibbs has two problems in this heavily Republican district: (1) she is running as Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, which is not exactly an easy name to spell and (2) she's a write-in candidate.
Today, Governor Rick Perry made things a little easier for her. He called for a Special Election to fill the remainder of Tom DeLay's term, which does not end until January. The Special Election will be held on November 7, 2006, the same day as the general election race to succeed him in the next session of congress.
Candidates have until Friday to pay a qualifying fee. That means Ms. Sekula-Gibbs' name will appear on the ballot, making it easier for people to write her in on the ballot in the separate race. The tactic might confuse some voters. It is not often one gets to vote for a listed candidate in one section of a ballot and then write in the same candidate in another section of the ballot. However, should the Sekula-Gibbs campaign and the Texas GOP work together to educate voters, things should turn out nicely for the GOP in Texas 22.
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How To Give A Write-In Candidate An Advantage? 16 Comments (0 topical, 16 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
They'll be wanting to check every ballot and toss any one that does not have it exactly right. Only one of these is correct.
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Shelly Sekula-Gibbs
Shelley Sakula-Gibbs
Shelley Sekula Gibbs
It does not have to be spelled exactly right to count under Texas law, but I'm sure that won't matter much to the Democrats if they lose. Count all the votes! (except for the ones that don't help us win)
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"I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more I have of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
Just counting the seconds until the Democrats file a law suit to stop this.
It's clearly authorized for the governor to do this under Texas law to fill the vacancy at the next general election. Clever tactic.
Perry got it in just under the wire. From the Texas statutes it looks like today was the last day he could have entered this order.
An interesting provision in the Texas code would seem to have provided a "work around" to the problem. It says that a candidate may withdraw and a replacement selected if the candidate is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in another elective office. Couldn't we have found some position to appoint DeLay to for a few months?
how a Federal judge ruled that Tom Delay could not withdraw from the ballot, even by moving out of state, while Bob Torricelli had no trouble removing himself from the New Jersey Senate ballot at a very late date?
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If you're seeing shades of gray, it's because you're not looking close enough to see the black and white dots.
It was clearly past the deadline to replace Toricelli in NJ. The difference was a D court who didn't really care about the law, just the results, vs. an R Texas court, which was willing to follow the law, even if it meant a disadvantage for their party.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
an R Texas court, which was willing to follow the law
I have to say, I still don't understand the logic that because someone can move back to the state that means they haven't moved out of the state. Under that definition, has anyone ever moved out of state? You can always move back, after all. Why even have the provision in the law?
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"I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more I have of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
The way the court treated it, it didn't need to be addressed in the law. Apparently the only way off the ballot is by dying, in which case you get removed from the ballot but are still allowed to cast votes for Democrats.
I really did mean that it's pointless to try to compare these two results when both the facts and the law are different.
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If you're seeing shades of gray, it's because you're not looking close enough to see the black and white dots.
chances of a continued hold on the House just got a big boost.
I guess the idea is that it gets her name ON THE BALLOT, but apparently down here in Texas there is some method where write-in candidates get their names listed somehow in the booth albeit not on the ballot. The GOP will have to have lots of boots on the ground for this one.
Assuming the same person wins both elections, they'll get a seniority jump on their fellow freshmen, so Lampson has something to gain too from this maneuver.
Governor Perry could have done this sooner so that the winner of the election would be more well known before November 7th, but instead the Texas GOP waited to try to get another name on the General Election ballot.
Of course, also Delay could have kept his name on the ballot and after the Nov. 7 election if the winner (Delay) was no longer eligible then Governor Perry could have called a replacement election then - with the proper names on the ballot.
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Good thing that's a Republican state, there.
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If you're seeing shades of gray, it's because you're not looking close enough to see the black and white dots.