Court mandates GOP to place candidate

CHEROKEE COUNTY — According to our news partner KETK, a court is requiring the Cherokee County Republican Party to put a candidate on the primary ballot after she was denied due to errors found in her application to run. Karen Morris applied to run on the general primary ballot on Dec. 8 for the Cherokee County Republican Chair position, currently held by Janet Stanovich.

Morris’ application was denied on Dec. 12 as the party claimed the application was incomplete because she had not listed the office she is seeking and left two sections of the petition incomplete. After learning that her application was denied, she texted a respondent asking whether she could submit a new petition to have it accepted, but the respondent did not answer.

On Dec. 15, Morris provided the party with a declaration to be a write-in candidate for the primary ballot and a completed petition to run for the position. Morris also sent a formal written demand that the respondent accept her application.

“You have a duty to accept this application because it complies in all respects with the applicable requirements as to form, content and procedure specified in the Texas Election Code,” Morris’ counsel stated in her written demand.

Morris received no response to her demand, causing her to file a mandamus, which is a court order compelling a government official or lower court to perform a specific non-discretionary legal duty they have failed or refused to do.

“We must be careful to avoid undue interference with the electoral process and the people’s right to self-governance, including their choice of candidates,” the Twelfth Court of Appeals said.

After judges from the Twelfth Court reviewed Morris’s case, they ruled in her favor on Tuesday, citing precedents set in earlier cases. The court also found that Morris’s petition did not invalidate her application and that the respondent improperly rejected it.

“The petition contains enough other information to allow verification of the candidate’s name, applicable county and office sought,” the Twelfth Court of Appeals said. “Accordingly, we conclude that the omissions in Morris’ petition did not invalidate her application and the respondent improperly rejected the application.”

Following the ruling, the Cherokee County Republican Party is forced to add Morris to the ballot within the next 24 hours.