We may know as soon as Wednesday if the Texas Secretary of State has validated the petition signatures of Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman, thus giving them each a slot on the November gubernatorial ballot.
Spokesman Scott Haywood said Monday that Secretary of State Roger Williams, Texas’ chief elections officer, was in the final stages of checking the validity of petition signatures that Strayhorn and Friedman submitted last month.
“Hopefully, that will be completed by Wednesday,” he said.
Each needs the signatures of 45,540 registered voters who didn’t cast ballots in either major party primary or runoff.
Strayhorn submitted more than 220,000 signatures and Friedman turned in about 169,000. Both campaigns admitted some signatures probably would be struck during the verification process but contended they had more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
“We turned in five times the number of signatures that were required. So we’re very confident,” Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said.
If certified, Friedman and Strayhorn will join Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner in challenging Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election.
Haywood said the secretary of state’s office also was checking the validity of petition signatures submitted by the Green Party for a statewide ballot spot. That party has to meet the same requirements as the independent candidates.
I will be utterly flabbergasted if either Strayhorn or Friedman fails to make the ballot. I always assumed they would, and I have a hard time imagining that they’d fall short after the number of signatures they turned in.
Not mentioned in this story is the status of Steve Stockman, the independent hopeful in CD22. I presume that the SOS will have something to say about that as well. I still think it’s ridiculous to have taken the same amount of time to verify 500 signatures as it did 45,000, but whatever.
Speaking of baloney:
Also pending is Strayhorn’s attempt to use the nickname “Grandma,” which she has used in political advertising, on the ballot.
Haywood said Williams also may decide that issue this week.
If Haywood and Williams can manage to keep straight faces when they announce that decision, I’ll be impressed.
Best comment on the process goes to the Pink Lady.
A spokesman for Secretary of State Roger Williams, the chief elections officer, said that they are in the final stages of validating the petition signatures submitted last month. “Hopefully, that will be completed by Wednesday,” he said. “But we’re still trying to determine how many of Strayhorn’s signatures came from her ex-husbands.”
Zing!