I’d been wondering about this.
Legal challenges that threatened to upend Texas voter-approved property tax cuts and increases to retired teachers’ pensions appear to have been squashed by a coordinated effort between the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state.
The secretary of state’s office has declared the 13 voter propositions approved on Nov. 7 a part of the Texas Constitution, according to legal filings in Travis County. The court documents indicate Gov. Greg Abbott seized upon a legal technicality to thwart six lawsuits challenging the results of the recent election.
Property tax cuts that could save homeowners hundreds on their tax bills next year and thousands of dollars for cost-of-living increases for retired teachers could have been in limbo while the lawsuits moved through courts in Travis County and a likely appellate process.
[…]
On [December 4], Abbott canvassed the election, notifying the secretary of state’s office that he had certified results for all of the voter propositions. On [December 5], the secretary of state’s office filed motions in the lawsuits indicating the measures are now part of the state constitution.
The election challenges would have held up implementation of the amendments. But the office of the attorney general discovered that the lawsuits had “citation and return of service” that gave incorrect deadlines for the secretary of state to respond, according to legal filings.
Typically plaintiffs can correct suits with proper citations. However, Texas law requires all subpoenas in challenges to elections to be served before the governor certifies the results.
Since the results have been certified, they are no longer subject to new legal challenges.
“This Court will never see a simpler example of mootness,” the legal filings from the secretary of state’s office read.
[…]
Randy Erben, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said even if the law appears to be on Abbott’s side, dismissing the cases will require a ruling from a judge.
“The canvas ends the debate, but … the court may come back and say there’s nothing the matter with the service or there’s some exception or ameliorating factor,” Erben said.
See here and here for the background. I had noted this effort to moot the lawsuits, but the way I saw it reported at the time, I had assumed more or less what Professor Erben says, that the litigation was still active until a judge made a ruling. After the recent stories about electing appraisal district board members and new money for state parks, and I figured either we had a collective case of amnesia or something had happened with the litigation that I had missed. Turned out it was just my expectations, as that magic filing seems plus Abbott’s day-early canvass did indeed make it disappear. If later on the judge in the case rules that the lawsuit is still active, then I suppose anything that happens from there would affect a future election, as by then it would be too late for this one. Anti-climactic to say the least, but here we are. I’m always happy to see election deniers get denied, though I doubt this will slow them down the next time. I presume the lesson they’ll take from this is to be more careful in their filings. I fear we’ll find out this November.