In Re Francis

With the arrival of the biennial primary season, we must address once again whether the Texas Election Code requires minor defects in a candidates papers to be addressed by eliminating the error or the candidate. In this case, a candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filed a 225-page petition signed by hundreds of eligible voters, more than enough to have his name placed on the Republican primary ballot. But due to a clerical error, several pages did not state that he was running for "Place 8" on that Court. The Republican Party of Texas listed him as a candidate, but his name was removed by a Travis County district judge upon challenge by another Republican candidate.