GOP, Demo parties unify on April 3 primary date

Negotiated order goes to San Antonio court

BULLETIN: The three-judge panel of the Western District U.S. District Court signed the negotiated order within hours of its introduction by the GOP and Democratic Parties of Texas.

We have no hard filing deadline, for seats that don’t yet exist, for an election date we don’t know. Any questions?” Harold Cook

Austin – Officials of the state Republican and Democratic parties agreed on a proposed order which, if a three-judge panel of Federal Judges signs it, will move the March primaries to a new date of April 3.

The new deadlines agreed upon are:

February 1, 2012 - New residency deadline for candidates seeking election to the Texas House and Texas Senate.

February 1, 2012, 6:00pm - New deadline of court-ordered reopened filing period, in which candidates for all offices have the opportunity to amend, withdraw or file a new application for the ballot.

February 3, 2012 - New deadline for County Executive Committees to conduct drawing for candidate order on ballot.

April 3, 2012 - Date of the 2012 General Primary Election.

April 14 or April 21, 2012 - Date of County and Senatorial District Conventions, as determined by the State Chair of each political party.

June 5, 2012 - Date of the 2012 General Primary Runoff Election.

According to the order, which will not be effective until or unless the judges sign off on it, the following stipulations apply:

The following schedule is contingent upon the Court entering redistricting plans for Texas House, Senate and Congress on or before February 1, 2012:

Residency

Therefore, it is ORDERED that for the 2012 elections to the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate a person must be a resident of the district the person seeks to represent from February 1, 2012 until the date of the General Election, and,

It is further ORDERED that an incorrect precinct, district or place designation on anapplication for a place on the ballot shall not render the application invalid if the designation is corrected on or before February 1, 2012 at 6 p.m. If a previously filed application indicated a district, precinct or place designation specifying a particular map to which that designation applied, or if the application did not specify a district, precinct, or place designation, and one is required for the office sought, the application shall be rejected if not amended to correct such designation prior to 6 p.m. February 1, 2012. Any petition submitted in lieu of filing fee must contain valid
signatures of registered voters of the territory from which the office sought is elected in the number required by the Texas Election Code, and must be submitted to the appropriate filing authority no later than 6:00 p.m., February 1, 2012.

An application for a place on the ballot for the office of precinct chair shall not be invalid if filed more than 90 days before the deadline.

According to a joint statement issued by the GOP and Democratic parties, “If signed by the three-judge panel - nothing in the order shall be construed by the Court or the parties as a waiver of the positions of each party with respect to the schedule or conduct of the upcoming election. The parties' positions as stated at the December 13, 2011 hearing are expressly reserved. Additionally, the Republican and Democratic parties have agreed that it is necessary to have a primary early enough in April to allow them to conduct their statutorily required conventions as previously planned.”