Court Opinion

ID: 9425657
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:15:21.201522+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:56.799589
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting in part.
While I agree with the Court on the absentee ballot aspect of these cases, I dissent on the main issue. These cases involve appeals from the dismissal of actions seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against provisions of the Texas Election Code relating to *796minority parties and independent candidates. The District Court noted that:
“While the Supreme Court of the United States has delineated on the extreme end of the spectrum those combinations of restrictions which unconstitutionally impede the election process [Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U. S. 23 (1968)], and those on the other end which do not [Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U. S. 431 (1971)], this case presents a new combination which falls squarely in the middle.” Raza Unida Party v. Bullock, 349 F. Supp. 1272, 1275-1276 (WD Tex. 1972).
The hurdles facing minority parties such as the American Party of Texas in seeking to place nominees on the ballot are set out and compared with those of Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U. S. 431, in my opinion dissenting from the denial of a temporary restraining order in American Party of Texas v. Bullock, 409 U. S. 803.1 I there noted that:
“We said in Jenness v. Fortson, supra, at 438, ‘Georgia's election laws, unlike Ohio’s, do not operate to freeze the status quo.’ Texas, though not as severe as Ohio, works in that direction. It therefore seems to me, at least prima facie, to impose an *797invidious discrimination on the unorthodox political group.
“Perhaps full argument would dispel these doubts. But they are so strong that I would grant the requested stay_” Id., at 806.
Oral argument has failed to dispel the doubts. For the reasons stated in American Party of Texas v. Bullock, supra, I believe that the totality of the requirements imposed upon minority parties works an invidious and unconstitutional discrimination.
An analysis of the requirements imposed on independent candidates leads me to the same conclusion.2 Under *798the procedures reviewed in Jenness, independent candidates seeking a ballot position had six months to secure the signatures of 5% of the eligible electorate for the office in question. The percentage required in Texas ranges, according to the office, from 1 % of the last statewide gubernatorial vote to 5% of the last local gubernatorial vote, and in any case no more than 500 signatures are required; the candidate, however, has only 30 days in which to gather them. In Jenness a voter could *799sign a candidate’s petition even though he had already signed or would sign others. Here no voter may sign the application of more than one candidate. In Jenness a voter who signed the petition of an independent was free thereafter to participate in a party primary and a voter who previously voted in a party primary was fully eligible to sign a petition. Here independents are not even allowed to seek signatures until after the major party primaries, and no voter who has participated in a party primary is allowed to sign an independent candidate’s application. In Jenness no signature on a nominating petition had to be notarized, but that is not the case here.
In Jenness we were able to say that Georgia “has insulated not a single potential voter from the appeal of new political voices within its borders.” 403 U. S., at 442. In Texas, however, the independent, like the minority party, must “draw [his] support from the ranks of those who [are] either unwilling or unable to vote in the primaries of the established parties.” American Party of Texas v. Bullock, 409 U. S., at 806. As with minority parties, I do not believe that Texas may constitutionally leave independent candidates to “be content with the left-overs to get on the ballot.” Ibid.

 As I there noted, minority parties whose gubernatorial candidate in the last election polled more than 2% of the total votes cast but less than 200,000 were allowed to select candidates through either primaries or nominating conventions. Tex. Election Code, Art. 13.45 (1) (Supp. 1972). The law has since been changed so that a minority party which fielded a gubernatorial candidate who polled more than 2% of the vote in the last election may not select candidates through primaries but must nominate through conventions unless the gubernatorial candidate polled more than 20% of the vote. Texas S. B. No. 11, 63d Legislature, Regular Session, § 6 (1973), quoted in Supplemental Appendix to Brief for American Party of Texas 14-15.

 The requirements for independent candidates are set forth in Tex. Election Code, Art. 13.50 (1967):
“The name of a nonpartisan or independent candidate may be printed on the official ballot in the column for independent candidates, after a written application signed by qualified voters addressed to the proper officer, as herein provided, and delivered to him within thirty days after the second primary election day, as follows:
“If for an office to be voted for throughout the state, the application shall be signed by one per cent of the entire vote of the state cast for Governor at the last preceding general election, and shall be addressed to the Secretary of State.
“If for a district office in a district composed of more than one county, the application shall be signed by three per cent of the entire vote cast, for Governor in such district at the last preceding general election, and shall be addressed to the Secretary of State.
“If for a district office in a district composed of only one county or part of one county, the application shall be signed by five per cent of the entire vote cast for Governor in such district at the last preceding general election, and shall be addressed to the Secretary of State.
“If for a county office, the application shall be signed by five per cent of the entire vote cast for Governor in such county at the last preceding general election, and shall be addressed to the county judge.
“If for a precinct office, the application shall be signed by five per cent of the entire vote cast for Governor in such precinct at the *798last preceding general election, and shall be addressed to the county judge.
“Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the number of signatures required on an application for any district, county, or precinct office need not exceed five hundred.
“No application shall contain the name of more than one candidate. No person shall sign the application of more than one candidate for the same office; and if any person signs the application of more than one candidate for the same office, the signature shall be void as to all such applications. No person shall sign such application unless he is a qualified voter, and no person who has voted at either the general primary election or the runoff primary election of any party shall sign an application in favor of anyone for an office for which a nomination was made at either such primary election.
“The application shall contain the following, information with respect to each person signing it: his address and the number of his poll tax receipt or exemption certificate and the county of issuance; or if he is exempt from payment of a poll tax and not required to obtain an exemption certificate, the application shall so state.
“Any person signing the application of an independent candidate may withdraw and annul his signature by delivering to the candidate and to the officer with whom the application is filed (or is to be filed, if not then filed), his written request, signed and duly acknowledged by him, that his signature be cancelled and annulled. The request must be delivered before the application is acted on, and not later than the day preceding the last day for filing the application. Upon such withdrawal, the person shall be free to sign the application of another candidate for the same office. Acts 1951, 52nd Leg., p. 1097, ch. 492, art. 227; as amended Acts 1963, 58th Leg., p. 1017, ch. 424, § 104.”