Multiple far-reaching Texas Election Laws that have been effectively dropped by the Legislature

Ballot Access News, the brainchild of election law expert Richard Winger, broke the news on the following post, Many Texas Election Law Bills Die, about multiple far-reaching bills that have been effectively dropped by the Texas Legislature.

May 9 was the deadline for Texas bills to have passed their house of origin. Many election law bills of interest failed to meet this deadline. That includes all the bills that would have revised the straight-ticket device; the bill to require birth certificates for candidates; the bills to establish a top-two primary; the bill to choose presidential electors according to the proportion of the popular vote within the state; and the bill to elect state judges in nonpartisan elections.

HB 3103 did pass the House by the deadline. Among other things, it requires the Secretary of State to study the effect of changing the March presidential primary date, and to report to the 2015 session of the legislature. HB 3101 also passed the House. It moves the deadline for a write-in candidate to file a declaration of candidacy to the same deadline for candidates who appear on the ballot. Of course, this change ignores one of the chief purposes of having write-in space on the ballot, which is to give voters an option if the candidates who qualify for the ballot turn out to disappoint the electorate. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

Also see Texas Government Transparency Push Risks Failure. Despite proposals, few Texan transparency laws have had large impact.  Also, take a look at Texas Redistricting Fiasco to be Repeated as latino groups, Democrats cry foul over new plans for Texas redistricting.