1 In The 

### Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

__________________ NO . 09
- 24
- 00091
- CV

__________________
IN RE DUKE W. COON
AND

__________________ NO . 09
- 24
- 00093
- CV

__________________
IN RE SHANA R. ARTHU R

__________________________________________________________________ Original Proceeding s Montgomery County, Texas

__________________________________________________________________ MEMORANDUM OPINION In separate mandamus petitions, Duke W. Coon (Coon) an d Shana R. Arthur (Arthur) ask this Court to compel the Respondent, Soco M. Gorj ón (Gorj ó n) , in her capacity as the City Secretary of the City of Conroe Texas , to reject applications to appear on the ballot filed by Real Parties in Interest Bobby Todd Yancey (Yancey)2 and Curt L

. Maddux (Maddux)

. The mandamus record establishes that on January 17, 2024, Gorj ó n accepted Yancey’s and Maddux’s applications for a place on the ballot in the May 4, 2024 General Election for the City of Conroe. Coon and Arthur
assert that Gorj ó n accepted the applications, but she should have rejected the applications when each application was received by Gorj ó n . T hey ask this Court to compel her to now reject the applications as a duty imposed by law in connectio n with the holding of the election

. See Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § § 273.061

- .063; see also Tex. R. App. P. 52. We deny the petitions for a writ of mandamus

. Background
Yanc e y and Maddux are currently serving as councilmen on the City Council for the City of Conroe. Both Yanc e y and Maddux have submitted applications for a place on the May 2024 general election ballot. Yanc e y has submitted an application to appear on the ballot for the position of Mayor, while Maddux has submitted his application to appear o n the ballot for re

- election to his current position for place 2 on the City Council. The filing period for the May 2024 election commenced on January 17, 2024, and concluded on February 1 6 , 2024. According to Coon , on January 17, 2024, Gorjón retrieved Yanc e y’s a pp lication from his desk at the City’s offices . Coon contends that Yancey left the field for “occupation” blank but
Yanc e y’s signature was on the application when it was retrieved from his desk. That said Coon contends that the notary’s signature and stamp were absent at that time

.3 According to Arthur, on January 17, 2024, Gorjón also retrieved Maddux’s application from his desk at the City’s offices, and when she did so Maddux’s signature was on the application, but the notary’s signature and stamp were absent. Coon and Arthur contend that the City Secretary gave Yancey’s and Maddux’s applications to a notary public in the City’s office and the notary then not arized the applications and signatures for Yancey and Maddux. A copy of the application filed by Yancey and Maddux appear s in the mandamus appendix for each mandamus petition. Yancey’s and Maddux’s application each bear the signature of an Official Authori zed to Administer Oath and each is stamped with a seal as a Notary Public for the State of Texas

. The applications are dated January 17, 2024, are signed by the candidates, and bear Gorjó n’s signature with a notation that each was received at 8:00 am on January 17,
2024 , and accepted by Gorjón that same day. The field for date of birth and occupation are blank on Yanc e y’s application. Yanc e y’s application states a length of continuous residence in Texas of 64 years, 6 months and states Yancey has lived in the territory f or which the office is sought for 7 years , 6 months. The field for date of birth is blank on Madd u x’s application , but his occupation is listed as being employed by Conroe Golf Cars

. Maddux’s application states a length of continuous residence in Texas of 55 years, 6 months and states Maddux has lived in the territory for which the office is sought for 48 years, 6 months.4 Coon and Arthur do not argue that Yancey and Maddux failed to sign the applications, nor do th ey contend that either signature ha s been forged. Additionally, they do not argue that either Coon or Arthur is unqualified by residency, or age to serve on the City Council. Rather, they argue Gorjón should have rejected the applications because Maddux and Yanc e y affixed their signatures to the applications on a date before January 17, 2024, and they were not physically present when the notary affixed her signature and seal to the applications. Consequently, Coon and Arthu r argue , Yanc e y and Maddux actually failed to swear to the information in the application and failed to swear to their oaths in the application wherein they promise to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Texas

. Coon argues that i n addition to failing to swear an oath to uphold the Constitutions, Yanc e y failed to comply with the requirements of the Election Code when he left blank the section on the application requiring him to identify his occupation. Coon and Arthur argue that un der the Election Code Gorjón had a ministerial duty to reject the applications because these defects rendered the applications invalid

. On January 17, 2024, Gorjón accepted both applications

. However, after the filing deadline had closed, a request was made for Gorjón to reject the applications

. Coon and Arthur contend they did not know about the irregularities in question until March 2024, which they admit

was after the filing deadline had clo sed. Relators ask this Court to compel Gorjón to

now reject the applications.5 Mandamus Review Mandamus relief is an extraordinary remedy that issues only to correct a clear abuse of discretion for which the relator has no adequate remedy by appeal. In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am

. , 148 S.W.3d 124, 135

- 36 (Tex. 2004) (orig. proceeding).
A court of appeals “ may issue a writ of mandamus to compel the performance of any duty imposed by law in connection with the holding of an election or a political party

conv ention, regardless of whether the person responsible for performing the duty is a public office r.” Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 273. 061 (a)

. That said, t he Texas Supreme Court has “long and consistently held, ‘[t]he public interest is best served when public offices are decided by fair and vigorous elections, not technicalities leading to default. ’” In re Walker , No. 24

- 0016, 2024 Tex. LEXIS 17, *1 (Tex. 2024) (orig. proceeding) (quoting In re Francis , 186 S.W.3d 534, 542 (Tex. 2006) (orig. proceeding) )

. “[P] rovisions that restrict the right to hold office must be strictly construed against ineligibility. ” Id . at *3 (quoting
Francis , 186 S.W.3d at 542 & n.34 and citing In re Green Party of Tex. , 630 S.W.3d 36, 39 (Tex. 2020) (orig. proceeding))

. Mandamus is not issued as a matter of right. Id . Even if a candidate’s application may have some deficiencies, an opposing candidate is not entitled to mandamus relief when the opposing candidate’s claims require factual determinations. See In re Angelini , 186 S.W .3d 558, 560 (Tex. 2006) ( orig. proceeding).6 Coon states “ there is no dispute that Councilman Yancey signed the application , ” then Coon argues Yanc ey did not swear to the application because he was not physically present when the notary affixed her signature and seal to the application

. Coon asse r ts that Yanc e y falsely state d how long he had lived in Texas and Conroe because he signed it before the dat e it was submitted, and he falsely stated that he had sworn to uphold the constitutions and laws of the United States and Texas because he did not swear to the oath in the presence of the notary at the time the notary affixed her seal

. Coon argues it was n ot possible for Gorjón to accept Yancey’s application on January 17, 2024, because the application was never sworn to by Yancey, and Gorjón later admitted she was aware that the candidate’s signature and the notary’s signature and seal were not contemporan eously affixed to the application. He argues this Court must compel Gorjón to now reject Yanc ey ’s application and remove Yancey from the ballot because Gorjón should not have accept ed an application she knew was deficient and that had not been sworn to in the presence of the notary

. Likewise, Arthur states, “there is no dispute that Councilman Maddux signed the application, ” then Arthur a lleges Maddux did not swear to the application because he was not physically present when the notary affixed her signature and seal to the application

. Arthur makes similar arguments as Coon. Arthur argues it was not possible for Gorjón to accept Maddux’s application on January 17, 2024, because7 the application was never properly sworn to by Maddux, and as Gorjón later admitted to the press, she was aware that the candidate’s signature and the notary’s signature and seal were not contemporaneously affixed to the application at the time and date when Maddux signed it

. We conclude that the alleged complaints outlined in the mandamus petitions require factual determinations and Coon and Arthur have not shown that mandamus relief is warranted at this time. We deny Coon’s and Arthur’s petitions for writ of mandamus without prejudice

. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.8(a). We also deny all pending motions for temporary relief. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.10.
PETITIONS DENIED.

PER CURIAM Submitted on March 15, 2024 Opinion Delivered March 15, 2024 Before Golemon , C.J., Johnson and Wright , JJ.