Chuck May Not Be Out; Kelly May Not Be In
Here’s section 145.001 of the Texas Election Code:
§ 145.001. METHOD FOR WITHDRAWAL AS CANDIDATE. (a) To withdraw from an election, a candidate whose name is to appear on the ballot must request that the candidate’s name be omitted from the ballot.
(b) To be effective, a withdrawal request must:
(1) be in writing and be signed and acknowledged by the candidate; and
(2) be timely filed with the appropriate authority as provided by this code.
(c) A withdrawal request filed by mail is considered to be filed at the time of its receipt by the appropriate authority.
(d) The time of a withdrawal is the time that an effective withdrawal request is filed.
(e) This section does not apply to a candidate for president or vice-president of the United States.
Here’s Chuck Rosenthal’s letter asking the party chairman to withdraw his nomination.
You’ll notice that:
1. It does not request that his name be omitted from the ballot; and
2. It is signed but not acknowledged.
So it would appear that Chuck did not legally withdraw from the election. And if Chuck didn’t legally withdraw from the election, then the filing deadline was not extended beyond yesterday. And if the filing deadline was not extended beyond yesterday, then Kelly Siegler’s attempt to be added to the ballot was untimely.
So, for Harris County DA, it’ll be Jim Leitner vs. Chuck Rosenthal.
You heard it here first (and, to give credit where due I heard it first from überlawyer, election-code guru, and, most importantly, my lawyer: Troy McKinney).
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