Petition for Writ of Mandamus Conditionally Granted and Opinion filed

January 13 , 2020.

In The



## Fourteenth Court of Appeals

NO. 14

- 20

- 00009

- CV

IN RE BARBARA WALKER , Relator

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING WRIT OF MANDAMUS Grimes County, Texas



### OPINION

Relator Barbara Walker holds the office of County Commissioner for Precinct 3 of Grimes County, Texas. She is a candidate for re

- election to that office in the March 3, 2020 Democratic Party Primary Election.
On January 6, 2020, relator filed a petition for writ of m andamus in this c ourt.
See Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 22.221 ( Supp. ); see also Tex. R. App. P. 52

. I n the petition, relator asks this c ourt to compel Grimes County Democratic Party
Chairman James Harris (“Harris”) to declare Michael Raska (“Raska”) ineligible as
a candidate for the office of County Commissioner Precinct 3 for Grimes County,
Texas because Raska was not a registered voter in Precinct 3 on the December 9,2

2019 deadline for filing his application for a place on the ballot , as required by section 141.001(a)(6) of the Election Code. See Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §141.001(a)(6) (Supp.).
We conditionally grant relief.



### J URISDICTION “The supreme court or a court of appeals may issue a writ of m andamus to compel the performance of any duty imposed by law in connection with the holding of an election or a political party convention, regardless of whether the person responsible for performing the duty is a public officer .” Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §
27 3.061 (emphasis added). This court has mandamus jurisdiction to direct a party official to perform his duty correctly. See Escobar v. Sutherland , 917 S.W. 2d 399, 411 (Tex. App.

– El Paso 1996, orig. proceeding). Relator was not required to first
seek reli ef in the district court. See In re Woodfill , 470 S.W.3d 473, 481 (Tex. 2015) (orig. proceeding).



### M ANDAMUS 

### S TANDARD A writ of mandamus will issue to compel the performance of a ministerial act or duty. Walker v. Packer , 827 S.W.2d 833, 839 (Tex. 1992). An act is ministerial when the law clearly spells out a duty to be performed by a public official with such certainty t hat nothing is left to the official’s discretion. Anderson v. City of Seven
Points , 806 S.W.2d 791, 793 (Tex. 1992).
The Texas Supreme Court has emphasized that the sections of the Election Code dealing with candidacy for political office are mandatory and are to be strictly
enforced. Wallace v. Howell , 707 S.W.2d 876, 877 (Tex.1986) (orig. proceeding).3

Harris ha s a ministerial duty to declare Raska ineligible if presented with public records conclusively showing that he is ineligible. See Tex. Elec. Code A nn. §141.003(f) and (g ) (Supp.). “The party chair ’ s duty to determine whether an application for a place on the ballot complies with the statutory requirements is ministerial.” In re Triantaphyllis , 68 S.W.3d 861, 869 (Tex. App.

— Houston [14th Dist.] 2002, orig. proceeding).


### A NALYSIS
Under Section 141.001(a)(6) of the Election Code, a candidate for the office of County Commissioner for Precinct 3 must be a registered voter in that territory on the date of the December 9, 2019 dead l ine for filing his application for a place on the ballo t

. See Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §141.001(a)(6) (Supp.); In re Perez , 508 S.W.3d 500 (Tex. App.

— El Paso 2016, orig. proceeding). Section 1.005(16) of the Election Code defines a “registered voter” as a person registered to vote in this state whose registration is effective. Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §1.005(16) (Supp.). Section 13.143(a) of the Election Code provides that a registration b ecomes effective on the 30 th day after the date the application is submitted to the registrar. Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §13.143(a) (Supp.).
Relator presented Harris with public records showing that Raska did not give notice of his change of address and registe r to vote in Precinct 3 un til December 9, 2019. Raska’s registration did not become effective until 30 days later, January 8, 2020. See Tex. Elec. Code Ann. §13.143(a) . In In re Perez , 508 S.W.3d at 506

– 08, the El Paso Court of Appeals held, based on almost identical facts
, that (1) “In the context of the office of El Paso County Commissioner, ‘the territory from which the office is elected’ necessarily refers to Precinct 3 rather than all of El Paso County” because the County
Commissioner for Precinc t 3 is elected by the qualified voters who are registered to vote4

in Precinct 3
, and (2) “Quintanilla’s voter registration was not effective until the 30th day after he submitted his address change, that is, January 6, 2016

. ” (citing Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 13.143(a)). We agree with the reasoning and the decision in the Perez opinion.

Because the public records show that Raska was not effectively registered to vote in Precinct 3 on the December 9, 2019 deadline for filing his application for a place on the ballot, Harris has a ministerial duty to declare R aska ineligible as a candidate for the office of County Commissioner Precinct 3 for Grimes Co unty, Texas

. 1



### C ONCLUSION

For these reasons, we conditionally grant the petition for writ of mandamus,
and direct Harris to immediately declare Raska ineligible as a candidate and to provide notice of such declaration to the Texas Secretary of State, the State Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, and the Grimes County Clerk today, J anuary 13, 2020

. We are certain Harris will act in accordance with this opinion. The writ of mandamus shall issue only if he fails to do so.

PER CURIAM

Panel c onsists of Justices Frost, Christopher, and Bourliot.

1 Neither Harris nor Raska have provided this court with any public records showing that Raska

was effectively registered to vote in Precinct 3 on the December 9, 2019 deadline . This court, by e

- mail, requested Raska to file a response to the petition by January 9, 2019, but Raska has not filed a response.