The San Antonio federal court entered an order Thursday setting the Texas primary for May 29 and making certain adjustments to the Texas Election Code to accommodate the new primary date.
The court’s order substantially follows the proposal submitted by the Democratic and Republican parties but makes two additional changes to address the issues of candidate residency and precinct chair elections.
For residency, the court ordered that candidates for state house and state senate need to be residents of the district they are running in by April 9.
The court also ordered that precinct chair elections occur on July 31 (the date of the runoff) rather than May 29 since new precinct boundaries may not be finalized by the date of the March 9 filing deadline.
Under the court’s order, candidate filing reopens Friday, March 2, and closes Friday, March 9. Any candidate who previously filed during the December filing period will have the option to withdraw or switch races.
Assuming the May 29 primary date holds, here’s what the primary election calendar looks like:
March 2, 2012 – The filing period reopens.
March 5, 2012 – Last day a vacancy in an office can occur and be included on the May 29 primary ballot.
March 9, 2012 @ 6:00 p.m. – The filing period closes for all offices other than precinct chair. Also the deadline for applications to fill an expired term for an office where the vacancy occurred before March 5, 2012.
March 12, 2012 – Deadline for county parties to conduct ballot order draws. If a filed candidate withdraws, dies, or is declared ineligible by this date, his or her name will be omitted from the May 29 primary ballot.
March 20, 2012 – Deadline for finalization of precinct boundaries by county commissions.
March 30, 2012 – First day a voter may submit an application for a vote-by-mail ballot for the primary. (If eligible, voters also may request a mail ballot for both the primary and runoff.)
April 9, 2012 – Date by which candidates for state house or state senate must be residents of the district they seek to represent.
April 14, 2012 – Deadline for mailing military and overseas mail ballots for primary.
April 15, 2012 – Deadline for federal candidates to file their Q1 2012 campaign finance reports (date not extended because it is a Sunday).
April 18, 2012 – Deadline for candidates for state office to file personal financial statements with the Texas Ethics Commission.
April 21, 2012 – Democratic senate district and county conventions. Republican senate district and county conventions in some counties.
April 25, 2012 – Date by which county election officials must issue new voter registration certificates to voters.
April 30, 2012 – Deadline for opposed state, county, and local candidates to file their ‘30-day before election’ reports (covering contributions and expenses through April ). Also date by which, voter registration or change of address cards must be postmarked in order to be effective for the primary.
April 30 – May 8, 2012 – Early voting for May municipal and school board elections.
May 12, 2012 – Municipal and school board elections.
May 14-25, 2012 – In-person early voting for Texas primary.
May 17, 2012 – Deadline for congressional candidates to file their pre-primary reports (covering contributions and expenses through May 9).
May 21, 2012 – Deadline for opposed state, county, and local candidates to file their ‘8-day before election’ reports (covering contributions and expenses through May 19).
May 22, 2012 – Last day to submit a vote-by-mail application for primary.
May 29, 2012 – Texas primary day.
June 1, 2012 – First day a voter may submit an application for a vote-by-mail ballot for the runoff. Also deadline (@ 6:00 p.m.) for candidates for precinct chair to file ballot applications.
June 4, 2012 – Deadline for county chairs to forward to elections administrators a list of candidates in each precinct seeking the office of precinct chair, in order of filing.
June 6, 2012 – Deadline for Democratic and Republican county parties to canvass election returns.
June 7, 2012 @ noon – Deadline for county parties to submit canvassed results to the state chair for their party.
June 7-9, 2012 – Republican state convention in Fort Worth.
June 8-9, 2012 – Democratic state convention in Houston.
June 9, 2012 @ 9:00 a.m.- Deadline for Democratic and Republican state parties to canvass statewide and district offices with potential runoffs and provide certified results to county parties.
June 10, 2012 @ 9:00 a.m. – Deadline for a candidate to withdraw from the runoff.
June 12, 2012 @ 9:00 a.m.- Deadline for county parties to conduct ballot order draw for the primary runoff.
June 16, 2012 – Deadline for mailing military and overseas mail ballots for runoff.
June 29, 2012 – Deadline for independent candidates, including for president, to file petitions for a place on the ballot. Also deadline for political parties nominating by convention (rather than by primary) to file petitions for ballot access.
July 2, 2012 – Deadline for runoff candidates to file their ‘30-day before election’ reports (covering contributions and expenses through April 26). Also date by which voter registration or change of address cards must be postmarked in order to be effective for the primary runoff.
July 3, 2012 – Deadline for entering a voter’s name on the suspense list due to an undelivered renewal certificate.
July 15, 2012 -Deadline for federal candidates to file their Q2 campaign finance reports (date not extended because it is a Sunday).
July 16, 2012 – Deadline for state candidates to file reports showing contributions and expenses between January 1 and June 30.
July 19, 2012 – Deadline for congressional candidates to file their pre-primary runoff reports (covering contributions and expenses through July 11).
July 23, 2012 – Deadline for runoff candidates to file their ‘8-day before election’ reports (covering contributions and expenses through July 21).
July 23-27, 2012 – In-person early voting for the primary runoff.
July 24, 2012 – Last day to submit vote-by-mail application for runoff.
July 31, 2012 – Primary runoff. Also date of elections for precinct chair. For precinct chair elections, only a plurality vote is required (no runoffs).
Source: http://txredistricting.org/
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