Mark Cuban supports third party vote rights in Texas

From an email press release by the Center for Competitive Democracy, the outfit backing the lawsuit by Greens, Libertarians, third parties and independents against Texas' restrictive ballot access laws plus the new filing fees of HB 2504, as reported by me earlier.

This intro and any body notes in italics, press release text in normal type.

Dallas-based entrepreneur Mark Cuban is speaking up in support of Texas voters in advance of a federal court hearing on October 31, 2019 that will determine whether a constitutional challenge to the state’s restrictive ballot access laws may proceed. The court will also decide whether Texas may enforce newly-enacted ballot access requirements that threaten to limit voter choice in the 2020 election cycle. HB 2504, the legislation imposing the new requirements, took effect on September 1, 2019. As construed by Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs, HB 2504 requires that all candidates seeking the nomination of a ballot-qualified minor political party either pay a filing fee or submit a nomination petition by December 9, 2019 to appear on Texas’s 2020 general election ballot. A group of voters, candidates and political parties are challenging the new requirements as part of a lawsuit alleging that several provisions of the Texas Election Code violate their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Per my update of that original blog post, Hughs' response to the plaintiffs request for an injunction on filing fees was so non-responsive it looked to be written by Ken Paxton.

Prior to the enactment of HB 2504, ballot-qualified minor parties were entitled to place their nominees on the general election ballot after nominating them at their self-funded conventions in the spring of the election year. Under HB 2504, all candidates who seek a minor party’s nomination must now comply with the same filing fee or nomination petition requirements as candidates seeking to appear on the primary election ballot. The plaintiffs allege that because they do not participate in the taxpayer-funded primary election, Texas has no legitimate interest in imposing the new requirements.

The United States District Court in Austin will hear oral argument on the plaintiffs’ motion seeking to prevent Secretary Hughs from enforcing HB 2504 against them in the 2020 election cycle, as well as the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. The plaintiffs allege that the burdens imposed by the new requirements are so severe, and the time permitted for complying with them so short – barely more than three months after HB 2504 took effect – that they will be excluded from Texas’s 2020 general election unless the court grants them relief.

Cuban, who co-stars on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and owns the Dallas Mavericks among many other ventures, issued the following statement in support of the legal challenge:

I believe in Texas Exceptionalism and the value we place on independent thinking. We want the best of Texas on our ballots, not just those that fall within the party system. For these reasons I am supporting the challenge to HB 2504.

Oliver Hall, founder of the non-profit Center for Competitive Democracy, which represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said he was “pleased that Cuban is speaking up on behalf of Texas voters who want more meaningful choices on the ballot.”

Personally, I'm no more a fan of the myth of Texas Exceptionalism than I am that of American Exceptionalism. But, this issue falls partly under "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

In addition to the new requirements that HB 2504 imposes on minor parties’ candidates, the lawsuit challenges the requirements that minor parties and independent candidates must meet to become ballot qualified, including the large number of handwritten voter signatures they must submit on paper nomination petitions in a limited period of time, as well as the restrictions on when nomination petitions may be circulated, which voters are eligible to sign them, and the deadlines for filing nomination petitions. 

In 2020, the challenged provisions require minor parties to obtain 83,717 valid signatures on paper nomination petitions in only 75 days. Independent candidates for statewide office must obtain the same number in as few as 30 days, if there is a run-off primary for the office they seek. Independent candidates for president need to collect 89,692 valid signatures in just 69 days. 

The plaintiffs – Mark Miller, Michele Gangnes, Scott Copeland, Laura Palmer, Tom Kleven, Andy Prior, America’s Party of Texas, Constitution Party of Texas, Green Party of Texas and Libertarian Party of Texas – allege that the cost of obtaining the required signatures will exceed $600,000 in 2020, largely because Texas’s nomination petition procedure is obsolete. Texas first adopted that procedure in 1905, and it has not been significantly updated or improved in the 114 years since.

Under HB 2504, candidates seeking a minor party’s nomination for statewide office also must pay a filing fee of $5,000 or submit a nomination petition with 5,000 valid signatures by December 9, 2019. The law imposes similar, but lesser, filing fees and signature requirements for district and local offices.

This is what Hughs gets most wrong. HB 2504 only requires the actual nominees to pay the fees. And I think CCD's press release is misphrasing this, as that is part of the injunction request. (I've asked for this to be clarified. Stand by.)

By contrast, Texas guarantees ballot access to the two major parties by means of taxpayer-funded primary elections. Texas has also adopted electronic procedures, at taxpayer expense, which minimize the burden of administering the major parties’ primary elections.

The plaintiffs assert claims for the violation of their rights to cast their votes effectively, to speak and associate for political purposes, and to the equal protection of law. The lawsuit, captioned Miller v. Hughs, No. 1:19-cv-00700, names Secretary of State Hughs and Deputy Secretary of State Jose A. Esparza as defendants in their official capacities, and seeks to enjoin the state from enforcing the challenged provisions.

The hearing on plaintiffs’ motion is at 9:00 AM on October 31, 2019 in the United States Courthouse, Courtroom #4, Fifth Floor, 501 West 5th Street, Austin, Texas.