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March 8, 2006
Primary Day
Tuesday was primary day in Texas. One thing it has exposed is the law that prevents any primary voter from signing petitions to get independent candidates on the ballot. The rationale seems to be that a petition counts as a primary vote for an independent. For example, it would prevent the Republicans from being able to elect one person during the primary, and having a second person as a popular backup.
We have two independent candidates running for governor: Kinky Freidman and Carole Strayhorn. Strayhorn is a Republican who decided to challenge as an Independent, rather than during the primary itself. I suspect this was for funding reasons - there just wasn't enough support in the party to unseat Rick Perry. Freidman is trying to run to break the big party stranglehold - plus have a bit of absurd fun.
I want them both on the ballot in November - if for no other reason as to have as many options as possible. As a result, I stayed home on Tuesday - waiting to sign petitions. I'll admit to knowing only a little about both of them, certainly not much to thrill me about them either. Strayhorn is running as the anti-Perry - without saying much about what she would do, while Freidman is running as the anti-establishment candidate - which is entertaining, but not necessarily productive.
However, there's other primaries besides the governor's race, and there's no way to tell if someone votes in the primary for a particular office. Since many of the more local offices are single party in November, the primary is often the only choice you get. It's rather frustrating - lose choices in one race, to gain choices in another
I also only get to choose one petition to sign. I suppose I'll ask my wife to sign a petition for the other. It should be really interesting to see if either of them get enough support to get on the ballot.
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Comments
It's all a part of the web of laws and rules designed to do two things: protect incumbents from competition, and protect the two major parties from competition. Basically, the rules are designed to make it difficult to get on the ballot unless the Democrats or Republicans select you, difficult to get money unless the Democrats or Republicans select you, and difficult to get into debates or other campaign events unless the Democrats or Republicans select you. Some of the more egregious rules include: limited time periods, strict requirements, and arbitrary discarding of signatures on petitions to get on the ballot; campaign finance laws; automatic ballot access for some parties and not others, based on how that party did in the previous election; state assistance to party primary voting for major, but not minor, parties; and ballot formation rules that limit or prevent write-in voting.
I wish the courts would throw these laws out as unconstitutional, on the grounds that they impose additional conditions and qualifications for office that the Constitution does not, but it's not going to happen, and frankly, too few people care to force change on the system.
Posted by: Jeff Medcalf ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.caerdroia.org/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 8, 2006 6:45 AM
Anybody who can write wonderful lyrics like, "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed," damn sure ought to be elected governor of Texas. If I could still vote in Texas, I'd vote for Kinky.
Posted by: Xixi at March 9, 2006 7:35 AM
I was tempted to sign Kinky's petition, but instead I voted in the primary for a pro-property rights candidate (Hatley) challenging an incumbent (Geren) for state rep. A fair amount of money and effort went into the challenge, but the incumbent still won.
Posted by: Karl Gallagher at March 9, 2006 9:46 AM
I definitely want to vote for Kinky. I saw him on one of those CSPAN shows, and he's running on an education ticket. Besides, he's also very cool.
Posted by: Alexandra at March 14, 2006 2:56 PM