Elections and Voter Information

Voter Information

Sample Ballot for March 2, 2010 Primary Election

TO: County Chairs
(cc: County Clerks/Elections Administrators)
FROM: Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections
DATE: January 5, 2010
RE: Sample Ballot for March 2, 2010 Primary Election

Enclosed is a sample ballot to assist you in preparing your ballot. The sample ballot shows the correct office title with the Spanish translation as well as the order of the races that are to appear on the ballot. The sample ballot contains races that are not necessarily applicable to your county. For example, you will need to pick and choose the races that are applicable to your county. The sample ballot includes race titles for races that are not normally up in 2010, but may be up for an unexpired term. It also contains only one race title for each race and it is possible that you have more than one office on your ballot and, therefore, will need to repeat that race title. In preparing a ballot, remember that a voter may only receive a ballot that contains the races on which the voter is entitled to vote. As a result, you may have more than one type of ballot for voting in your county. These different types of ballots are often referred to as “ballot styles” or “ballot combinations.” The sample ballot is only a guide and is not designed for you to insert the names of the candidates directly on the sample ballot.

Not later than today, the State Chair will have certified to you the candidates that are to be placed on the ballot who filed for statewide or multi-county district offices. No later than January 8, 2010, you must conduct a ballot drawing to determine the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballot for the statewide and multi-county races as well as the candidates for the local races filed with you. A 24-hour notice must be posted on the commissioners court bulletin board prior to the drawing.

As a reminder, your list of local and precinct candidates is required to be filed with the county clerk/elections administrator, Secretary of State, and State Chair no later than January 14, 2010. The form for this filing is C11W. Instead of filing form C11W with our office, you may file an electronic list in the format approved by your state party or this office.

Although write-in voting is not permitted for the public offices on the primary ballot, write-in voting is permissible for the office of county chair and precinct chair. Persons wishing to run as a write-in must have filed a declaration of write-in candidacy no later than December 30, 2009.

The following is a summary on preparing your ballot for the office of precinct chair.

Preparing Ballots for the Office of Precinct Chair

  1. More than one candidate filed to have name printed on ballot and no declared write- in candidates filed:
    1. Race is printed on ballot; and
    2. No write-in line is provided and write-in voting is prohibited.
  2. Only one candidate filed to have name printed on ballot:
    1. Candidate declared elected and race is not printed on ballot.
  3. One candidate filed to have name printed on ballot and at least one candidate filed as a write-in candidate:
    1. Race is printed on ballot and includes a write-in line;
    2. List of declared write-in candidates is posted in each voting booth;
    3. Write-in voting is restricted to candidates on declared list; and
    4. Any other write-in votes will not be counted.
  4. Only one candidate filed as a write-in candidate and no candidate filed to have name printed on ballot:
    1. Candidate declared elected and race is not printed on ballot.
  5. Two candidates filed for write-in candidacy and no one filed to have name printed on ballot:
    1. Race is printed on ballot with one write-in line;
    2. Voting is restricted to candidates whose name is printed on write-in list; and
    3. No other write-in votes will be counted.

Write-in voting is also permitted for the party office of county chair; however, if the race for county chair is uncontested, the race still appears on the ballot. Place a line for write-in candidates for county chair only if a candidate timely filed by December 30, 2009. If no one filed for the office of county chair, then the office is not placed on the ballot.

Remember, a voter may not be given a ballot that contains an office for which the voter is not entitled to vote. As a result, anytime you have a race on the ballot that is not common to all voters, a new ballot style has to be printed. The office of precinct chair is a distinctive office and requires a new ballot style for each precinct. If the office of precinct chair is printed on the ballot with candidate names, print the precinct number as part of the race title. If the office of precinct chair is printed on the ballot with only a write-in line and no candidate name, the race title is not required to include the precinct number for the race. In this case, the election judge will need to hand-write the number of the precinct on the back of the ballot next to the election judge’s name so that the ballot can be identified and counted by precinct. This will reduce the number of ballot styles required to be printed and thus reduce printing costs.

If the office of precinct chair is not printed on the ballot because all chairs have been declared elected and election precincts are consolidated, the consolidated precincts may be counted as one precinct.

Candidates for public office may not be declared nominated if they are unopposed in the primary election. You must print their names on the ballot under the appropriate race title. The law which allows certain uncontested candidates for public office to be declared elected is applicable only in the November General Election. If you do not have a candidate running for a particular public office, either state, district, county, or precinct, do not include that office on the ballot, except as discussed above for the office of precinct chair.

If you have any questions regarding these matters, please feel free to contact the Elections Division toll-free at 1-800-252-2216. I strongly urge you to order your ballots from your printer as soon as possible. The early voting clerk may begin mailing ballots to voters who have requested them as soon as the ballots are ready, and preferably no later than January 16, 2010.

2 Enclosure

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