A group of Texas Republicans has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian candidates from the ballot in the upcoming November general election.
The emergency petition to the state Supreme Court filed last week claims that the listed Libertarians did not pay their required filing fees or collect the necessary petition signatures as required by law.
Republican politicians who joined in the petition included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Reps. Pat Fallon (R-TX-4) and Michael Burgess (R-TX-26), U.S House District 15 candidate Monica de la Cruz, and U.S. House District 3 candidate Keith Self. Incumbent state Sens. Angela Paxton of McKinney and Brian Birdwell of Granbury are also parties to the petition, as is incumbent Texas House Rep. Keith Bell of Forney.
The Republicans that are party to the petition “are eligible candidates who are injured by having to compete against an opposing Texas Libertarian Party candidate who is not eligible to be on the 2022 General Election ballot,” according to the petition.
The petition details the allegation that the Libertarians have not complied with House Bill 2504, a state law passed in 2019 and expanded in 2021.
The law requires candidates selected at party conventions to pay a filing fee or collect petition signatures to appear on the ballot in Texas.
Prospective U.S. House candidates must pay $3,125 or collect 500 signatures, Lt. Gov. candidates must pay $3,750 or collect 5,000 signatures, a $1,250 payment or 500 signatures is required to run for state Senate, and a $750 fee or 500 signatures is needed to run for the Texas House.
The law applies to Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Green Party members seeking a place on the Texas ballot.
“Despite their knowledge of these requirements, candidates seeking public office as members of the Libertarian Party of Texas in the upcoming 2022 General Election deliberately refused to pay their required filing fees and also failed to file their required signature petitions in lieu of payment of their required filing fees,” reads the petition.
The Republicans claim they confirmed with the Texas Secretary of State that the Libertarian candidates had not paid their fees or collected sufficient signatures before filing the petition.
Republican candidates previously tried to remove 44 Libertarian candidates from the ballot in 2020. However, the state Supreme Court rejected the move, ruling that the Republicans’ challenge was filed too late for the candidates to be removed.
The Republicans’ unsuccessful 2020 challenge was seemingly prompted by a successful petition by Democratic candidates to remove three Green Party candidates from the ballot for the same reasons.
This time, however, the Republicans ensured their challenge was filed well before the August 26 deadline.
In March this year, state Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) tweeted, “The 2020 failure to knock Libertarians off the ballot was a dereliction of duty.”
The Libertarian Party of Texas (LPT) responded to Burrows, stating, “If you weren’t so terrible, we wouldn’t exist. There is nothing some cowards won’t do to keep from facing us in [November].”
“There (sic) majority is fading, and we will continue to steal the votes they feel so entitled to,” the Libertarian Party account continued.
The Republican’s petition includes an August 7 email from the Libertarian Party’s lawyer, Jared LeBlanc.
“We have reviewed your demands, the law, and the facts,” LeBlanc wrote. “We fundamentally disagree with your interpretation of the Texas Election Code.”
The LPT has claimed that the filing fee law exists only “to force 3rd parties to help pay for primary party conventions.”
Whitney Bilyeu, chair of the LPT, suggested the Republicans’ attempt to remove the 23 candidates is because they are “fearing Libertarian competition.”
“They tried this and failed in 2020,” wrote Bilyeu, continuing to say, “We will resist their totalitarian efforts to obstruct competition and limit voter choice. We expect they will fail this time too.”