UPDATE: This afternoon, the U.S. District Court three-judge panel in San Antonio signed into effect the proposed agreement between the Texas Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Texas.

Per the signed order – the new date of the 2012 General Primary Election is set as Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

Please note – the current filing deadline to submit an application for the primary ballot will end on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 6:00pm.

The court order provides for a reopened filing period which will begin at a date to be determined. We will keep you informed of any further announcements or developments regarding federal court action which affects these rulings.

Original Story: Today, the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) and the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) issued a statement announcing that the two parties have submitted a joint agreed proposal on the 2012 General Primary Election to the U.S. District Court three-judge panel in San Antonio.

The parties’ joint proposal provides for an April 3, 2012 unified primary date, along with adjusted dates, deadlines and requirements in respect to its administration. This new agreement was brought on by litigation over new political maps for congressional and legislative districts.   The agreement proposes to move the primary election from the March 6th date to this new date and allow for new filing deadlines in February.

RPT State Chairman Steve Munisteri said, “I am pleased that we could come to an agreement and I hope that most Republican elected officials and Texas voters will be satisfied with this proposal. We are hopeful that with both a timely ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court and subsequent finalized maps, that this agreement not only preserves the original structure of a unified primary, but provides us enough time to accomplish it in a fair and orderly fashion. Furthermore, this agreement addresses the concern of both the TDP and RPT by providing a timeline which still allows us to hold our respective state conventions and national delegate selection in June.”

TDP State Chairman Boyd Richie said, “We’re glad to have worked out an agreement which we feel works best for Texans. Given the less than ideal circumstances, we think that this election schedule is a workable solution that will create the least confusion for the voters.  We’re pleased that the agreement maintains a unified primary which will save taxpayers money.”

Notable details of the agreement submitted to the panel are as follows:

  • February 1, 2012 – New residency deadline for candidates seeking election to the Texas House and Texas Senate.
  • February 1, 2012, 6:00pm – New deadline of court-ordered reopened filing period, in which candidates for all offices have the opportunity to amend, withdraw or file a new application for the ballot.
  • February 3, 2012 – New deadline for County Executive Committees to conduct drawing for candidate order on ballot.
  • April 3, 2012 – Date of the 2012 General Primary Election.
  • April 14 or April 21, 2012 – Date of County and Senatorial District Conventions, as determined by the State Chair of each political party.
  • June 5, 2012 – Date of the 2012 General Primary Runoff Election.

If signed by the three-judge panel – nothing in the order shall be construed by the Court or the parties as a waiver of the positions of each party with respect to the schedule or conduct of the upcoming election. The parties’ positions as stated at the December 13, 2011 hearing are expressly reserved. Additionally, the Republican and Democratic parties have agreed that it is necessary to have a primary early enough in April to allow them to conduct their statutorily required conventions as previously planned.

Local candidates who have filed to run in the Republican Primary to date include:

County Sheriff: Bobby Grubbs of Brownwood

County Attorney: Shane Britton of Brownwood

County Tax Assessor:  Cheryl Nelson of Brownwood

Commissioner:

Precinct 1:       Steve Adams of Brookesmith & Tommy Blevins of Brownwood

Precinct 3:       Richard Gist of Brownwood, Chris Cadenhead of Brownwood, and Wayne Shaw of Brownwood

Constable:

Precinct 1:       Bob Beadel of Brownwood

Precinct 2:       David Hefner of May

Precinct 3:       C.T. Ham of Brownwood & Keith Varner of Blanket

Precinct 4:        Jim Byars of Brownwood