UPDATE: Yanez Cannot Submit Additional Signatures

Yesterday, we told you about the revelations that Appeals Court Justice Linda Yanez’s filing petitions for her Texas Supreme Court campaign didn’t contain enough valid signatures in the First and Fourteenth Appeals Court districts (among other things).

We also noted the following:

So, Yanez has about 72 hours to correct these problems. If she doesn’t and her certification stands, there are a couple of things that could happen. The worst-case, however, is this: if Yanez’s filing were unchallenged by Criss or the Republicans, and Yanez were to win, the Republicans could ultimately sue to keep her off the ballot.

It turns out, after consultation with some experts on the issue, that we were in correct on the first part of that statement.

Yanez cannot, in fact, submit additional signatures to correct her application except in the case of duplicate signatures.

Texas law clearly states that the required minimum number of signatures must be submitted at the time the application is turned in–and within the deadlines for candidate filing. From Texas Election Code, Sec. 172.021(g):

A candidate for the office of chief justice or justice, supreme court, or presiding judge or judge, court of criminal appeals, who chooses to pay the filing fee must also accompany the application with a petition that complies with the requirements prescribed for a petition authorized by Subsection (b), except that the minimum number of signatures that must appear on the petition required by this subsection is 50 from each court of appeals district.

Existing case law related to this section of the election code allows candidates to add some rudimentary information to signatures already collected on a petition (such as city, county, or zip code) but not date of birth or voter registration number if both are missing.

The fact here is that Yanez simply screwed up and her application is pretty much beyond repair. It isn’t hard for statewide candidates to gain access to the Democratic Party’s VAN database, and then check all signatures against that database to realize they are valid. And, it should be even easier to realize that one either (a) has enough signatures or (b) doesn’t have enough signatures for the ballot.

Candidates really do have a duty to do this right if they are to be viewed as legitimate competitors. It’s not like it is that difficult or complicated. And, as we witnessed during Strayhorn’s run in 2006, you can actually hire private companies to complete the task for you. And, if you aren’t sure if you are doing it right, then for goodness sakes–ask someone. Yanez could have called a number of election lawyers, party officials and even current and former candidates to ensure that she was on the right path. She didn’t.

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