Court Opinion

ID: 9673679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:16:20.093453+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:23.482035
License: Public Domain

POPE, Justice
(dissenting).
In my opinion La Raza met the three per cent (3%) requirement of Article 13.54, Texas Election Code, as to Dimmit County, but did not completely meet the requirements of that section as to La Salle and Zavala Counties.
I respectfully disagree with the majority opinion. This record shows that La Raza in good faith, commenced as early as February, 1970, in its effort to understand Article 13.54 and to comply with it. In the course of La Raza’s efforts to get the party’s candidates on the ballots, both the Secretary of State and the Attorney Gen*572eral studied the problem and wrote opinions. The Secretary of State ruled that La Raza’s candidates’ names should be printed on the ballots. The Attorney General disagreed. These carefully studied and prepared opinions indicate that even the most qualified students of election law could not find the clarity of meaning in Article 13.54 which this court has found.
The misunderstanding of the indefinite and obscure statute should not prevent La Raza’s candidates from appearing on the ballot.