FortBendNow.com

Long-time Fort Bend County District Clerk Glory Hopkins’ bid to run in the Republican primary election was denied this afternoon by the 14th District Court of Appeals in Houston.

Now the only possible way Hopkins could get on the ballot would be to obtain a favorable ruling from the Texas Supreme Court. Her attorney, Richard Tate, said Hopkins hasn’t yet decided whether to try and do so.

Due to a mailing snafu, county Republican Party Chairman Eric Thode didn’t receive Hopkins’ application for candidacy until after the 6 p.m. Jan. 2 filing deadline.

Her filing papers were declared invalid, but on Jan. 6 she filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the appeals court, asking that Thode be ordered to place her name on the ballot.

Hopkins argued in a filing with the court that her application would have been received on time, but for the fact she relied on an incorrect mailing address provided by Thode, and the U.S. Postal Service was unable to deliver her filing papers.

The appeals court decision “said in order to be entitled to relief from a statutory deadline, we’d have to prove that Eric violated a statutory duty,” Tate said. The court ruled no such duty was violated.

But, Tate said, a statute directs candidates to file applications with the county party chairmen, and while the statute doesn’t specifically say so, “that implies a statutory duty” that the chairman “be available right up to the deadline” to receive applications.

“Our argument would be that this same implied duty would require a party chairman to give the correct mailing information,” Tate said. Thus, by inadvertently providing the incorrect mailing address for candidates to file their applications, Thode made “an unintentional violation of an implied statutory duty.”

Tate said Hopkins is out of town at a district clerk’s convention, and so they’ll wait until tomorrow to discuss whether to seek a mandamus from the state Supreme Court.

“It’s a major decision,” he added.

Time is not on Hopkins’ side. If she does decide to go before the high court, she’ll need a ruling soon. According to an affidavit by Fort Bend County Elections Administrator Steve Ra born made part of Hopkins’ appeals court filing, ballots must be printed and ready for use at least 38 days prior to election day. And, Raborn said, he needs three days more to finalize ballot proofs. That means the ballot cannot be changed after Jan. 25.

Thus far, only one Republican candidate is officially on the ballot – Annie Rebecca Elliott. Democrat Veronica Torres also has filed for office.