Court Opinion

ID: 9692298
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:50:58.883657+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:33.879597
License: Public Domain

CHARLES W. SEYMORE, Justice,
concurring.
I join and fully concur with the court’s analysis and opinion but write separately for emphasis. I reluctantly joined the majority when we granted appellant’s first petition for writ of mandamus and issued an order directing the Harris County Republican Party to remove appellee’s name from the 2002 primary ballot. Absent any claim of fraud or misfeasance, it was my considered opinion that placing appellee’s name on the primary ballot was a “just and reasonable result.” See In re Bell, 45 Tex. Sup.Ct. J. 336, 91 S.W.3d 784 (2002). At that time, I did not believe our court had sufficient guidance from the supreme court relative to application of the Code Construction Act under these facts. Consequently, I did not write a dissenting opinion. The supreme court has spoken. Mistakes on applications should not result in an absolute bar to equitable relief. In re Gamble, 71 S.W.3d 313, 318 (Tex.2002). A court, among other things, must balance competing equities when exercising equitable powers to resolve election disputes. *409Id. at 317. Appellant has never answered the question posited by the court: when balancing competing equities should a court allow a candidate who files an application to be placed on the ballot in the Democrat party primary, to win a general election by default merely because the Republican party accepted a corrected application (one day after the filing deadline) from the only candidate for that position in the Republican party primary? I respectfully suggest that in deciding whether equitable remedies should be available under these unique facts, the dissenting supreme court justices in Gamble failed to distinguish between the instant scenario, where the applicant for a place on the primary ballot has no opponent in the party primary and the countervailing situation where two contestants are seeking nomination from the same political party.
Judge Gamble is entitled to the statutory protection afforded candidates who file their applications early because party officials had opportunity but failed to review his application and provide notice of any reason for rejection. This interpretation has been applied in other cases. See Escobar v. Sutherland, 917 S.W.2d 399, 406 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1996, orig. proceeding); See also, In re Ducato, 66 S.W.3d 558 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth, 2002 n.w.h.).
The dissent contends we should vacate the trial court’s judgment and order this case dismissed. My colleague erroneously opines that Judge Gamble’s only authorized action for injunctive relief under Tex. Elec.Code Ann. § 273.081 (Vernon 1986) would be to compel timely review of his application. He asserts that injunctive relief is available only to prevent or stop a violation which had “occurred and was completed well before” Judge Gamble had an opportunity to seek an injunction. The dissent has misstated Judge Gamble’s reason for seeking injunctive relief. The conduct that precipitated this action for in-junctive relief was not “the official’s failure to review the application as soon as practicable.” Succinctly, the Election Code violation occurred and continued to occur each time Harris County Republican Party officials refused to place Judge Gamble’s name on the ballot. Accordingly, Judge Gamble had standing to seek the relief granted by the trial court and the trial court had jurisdiction to fashion an equitable remedy.
I join the court in affirming the trial court’s final judgment and permanent injunction.