By B.K. Carter

Justice of the Peace Joel Clouser, an 18-year incumbent, will remain on the Democratic primary ballot, it was announced at a press conference late last week.

Judge Clouser’s filing petition was scrutinized by his opponent Tony Sherman in the upcoming Democrat primary, and according to Sherman, Clouser didn’t have the required 500 signatures after the non-qualified voters were excluded.

Democratic County Chair Elaine Bishop said she personally reviewed the 747 signatories on the petition and found some of Sherman’s challenges valid. Bishop said she was reminded of her own race for county chair when she was asked to let the party’s executive committee decide rather than put the party to the expense of a run-off election. Bishop said she felt very strongly that the voters should decide, and therefore she and Sherman had come to an agreement to let Clouser’s name remain on the ballot.

Bishop said she found 144 invalid signatories and 160 signatures that were missing either the city, state, or zip in the address. She said these 380 signatures, if found invalid, would have disqualified Clouser, who filed by petition rather than paying a filing fee.

Not mentioned at the press conference was the Supreme Court ruling that signatures, if registered voters, do not have to be accompanied by city and state although this information is required by the secretary of state. The secretary of state handles elections in Texas.

Sherman said Clouser was sworn to uphold the law, and he thought the fact that the judge had “skirted the law” in his petition, would work against him in the campaign. “How can we support someone like that?” Sherman asked, referring to Judge Clouser.

Sherman said he was going to send letters to all the precinct chairs about Clouser “skirting the law,” but he had agreed to go ahead with the primary with Clouser’s name on the ballot. He challenged incumbent Clouser to three debates before the primary vote on March 2.

Not mentioned at the press conference is the protracted legal battle that would have resulted if Clouser’s name had been struck from the ballot. Evidently the secretary of state rules and the supreme court ruling differ concerning the addresses of the signers.

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