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Sunday, September 03, 2006

TX-22: Perry's Gambit Backfires

Posted by James L.

As you may know by now, the Texas Republican Party pulled a cute stunt last week when Gov. Rick Perry (R) called for a special election to fill Tom DeLay's vacant seat for the rest of his term, expiring in January 2007. At first glance, it seems clever--by holding the special on the same day as the general, it gives Republican write-in candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs an actual ballot position, which theoretically should help remind Republican die-hards to scribble in Ms. Hyphen's name on the general ballot.

I say "theoretically" for several reasons. First of all, Nick Lampson is boycotting the special election. This is likely an effective strategy not only because it de-legitimizes the special election as a DeLay-Perry powerplay, but also because it will generate a certain amount of confusion. As Rick Hasen notes via the Hotline, Republican voters who are deterimined to vote for Secular-Gibs may cast a vote for her on the "special" ballot and think that their work is done. Furthermore, it won't just be Shelley on the special ballot. A relatively low filing fee has brought up a whole crop of other candidates contesting the special election. From the AP:

Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, backed by Republicans as a write-in candidate in the general election, is among those who filed by Friday's deadline for the special election.

She is joined by three other Republicans — retired Air Force Maj. Don Richardson; Dr. Hoa Tran Giannibecego; and former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman — and Libertarian Bob Smither.

I see this cutting in two ways. First of all, voters will see two ballots--one with Lampson and Smither (the general ballot), and another with Ms. Hypenated-Name and three other Republicans plus Smither (the special ballot). Voters who are determined to vote against Lampson may think that they're picking their anti-Lampson choice on the special ballot alone, and their work would be done. Secondly, for sharper Republican voters, having a whole crop full of special election candidates who aren't on the general ballot may actually increase the number of divided write-in votes. If the Republican aim was to increase Sekula-Gibbs' name recognition for the general ballot, their gambit may inadvertently cause a portion of Republicans to pick a name from the list of special election choices and scribble it in against Lampson on the general ballot (even though they haven't registered to run as write-ins).

The more I think about this one, the more I feel "Democrat Favored" is probably the more appropriate ranking over "Leans Democratic".

Posted at 03:47 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Texas | Technorati

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Comments

Unfortunately for the Republicans, it doesn't look like they'll actually be "scribbling" any name. According to Bob Novak:

The vast majority of voters in the district for the first time will use eSlate voting machines that will require voters, for a write-in, to dial up one letter at a time and press “enter” after each letter. It will take around two minutes for a voter to dial in the name of the Republican candidate, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (with no option for a hyphen).

Wonder if that'll make Republicans feel more negative about electronic voting machines.

Posted by: KCinDC at September 3, 2006 08:08 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Ha! Good catch. No wonder the Republicans are apparently trying to argue that a write-in vote saying simply "Shelley" should be enough to count.

Posted by: James L. at September 3, 2006 08:28 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Hey, Stockman is a candidate again.

Richardson is also a write-in candidate for the full term.

Just wait until Republicans end up voting straight-ticket and not casting a vote in TX-22.

Posted by: RBH at September 3, 2006 08:31 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I think RBH is right - breaking the "straight ticket" habit is hard.

Posted by: DavidNYC at September 3, 2006 09:37 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Except, of course, that voters do not need to put in the entire name. "Shelley" or "Sekula" or "Gibbs" -- and probably just "SSG" -- are sufficient to indicate the intent of the voter under Texas law.

And Don Richardson may have his own little problem -- hope his time in the Air Force prepared him for prison life. He appears to have solicited a bribe from the RNC to drop out of the race.
http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/195127.html

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at September 3, 2006 09:50 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Clearly we should have found someone else in the Sekula-Gibbs family who was also willing to run as a write-in. ;)

Posted by: DavidNYC at September 3, 2006 10:06 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

just a test

Posted by: Lwood at September 4, 2006 05:14 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Except, of course, that voters do not need to put in the entire name. "Shelley" or "Sekula" or "Gibbs" -- and probably just "SSG" -- are sufficient to indicate the intent of the voter under Texas law.

Unless we file two other candidates, one named Shelley and the other named Gibbs. Has the deadline passed yet? Politics ain't beanbag.

Posted by: Jay at September 4, 2006 06:10 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Actually, it did pass -- on August 29.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at September 7, 2006 08:42 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

It is another example of the Democrats playing fair in an unfair game.

It's almost like we're tryin to score a touchdown but the game is in reality baseball.

Teh Dems should have found a couple of people willing to run as a Republican with the names Shelley and/or Gibbs.

This would have at least created a question on some of the ballots.

As usual, I think they are taking the Republicans too lightly. They may, and I said may, be on the ropes but the fight isn't over.

http://dontbealemming.com/2006/09/16/are-we-seeing-boogeymen-when-it-is-just-shadows.aspx

Posted by the Lemming Herder at Don’t Be A Lemming!

Posted by: LemmingHerder at September 16, 2006 09:45 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment