Federal Court Moves Texas' Primary Election from March to April

(Comal County, TX) -- A federal court in San Antonio has ruled that Texas’ Primary election should be rescheduled, pushing back the March Primary into the month of April. The US District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a ruling Friday that rescheduled what would have been the March 6th Primary, pushing the date of that election back to April 3rd (which also changes the date of the Primary Run-off election, should one be needed, to June 5th). The change in date for the Primary affects a lot of different areas of state and county government, from voter registration to filing periods for candidates.

Comal County Tax Assessor Collector Cathy Talcott tells KGNB News that the new filing deadline for primary candidates is now Feb 1st, which means anyone who has already filed for their spot on the ballot will have to do so again. Talcott also says that the fight over redistricting, and now the change in the primary date is also leading to a delay in her office issuing new voter registration cards. You would normally get those new cards before the end of the year. But Talcott says that her office will have to wait until early next year to send the cards. Counties across the state now have until Feb 13th to issue those voter registration cards. And if they were to do their mass mailing now, instead of waiting for the redistricting issues to be finalized, then they could have to do another round of mailings, at the county’s expense.

And Talcott says that once her office gets approval from the Secretary of State’s Office, they will begin inputting the thousands of changes to voting districts and precincts, a process which is sensitive and labor-intensive, and will take several weeks to complete. Then the cards will need to be printed and mailed, so Talcott asks for patience and assures Comal County residents that her office is trying to be as proactive as possible while the redistricting issues remain up in the air.

One other important note: The Texas Primary, at least for this year, will now not be held on what is nationally referred to as Super Tuesday, where dozens of states hold their Presidential primary election on the same day. In fact, Texas will be one of the last states to hold its primary election in 2012. As more details emerge this week on the details of that upcoming election, we’ll have updates here on AM 1420 and online at kgnb.am.