06.23.06
Half of Grandma’s petition signers disqualified
Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams announced today that both Grandma and Kinky submitted enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. No surpises, until this:
Both Strayhorn and Friedman turned in far more petition names by the May 11 deadline than the 45,540 required. Strayhorn submitted some 223,000 signatures and Friedman submitted 169,574.
Among other limitations, the signatures had to be from registered Texas voters who did not cast ballots in the Republican or Democratic primaries this spring. A preliminary state review showed 137,154 of Friedman’s signatures met the requirements, and 108,512 of Strayhorn’s.
The fact that the Williams disqualified more than half (51.34%) of Grandma’s signatures seems worthy of more comment. There must have been some fairly complex cross-checking of the data. Also, since only 19% of Kinky’s signatures were tossed, can we draw the conclusion that he was much more meticulous about gathering good data?
We are being asked to believe that Grandma was either careless in submitting so many bogus names, or intentionally trying to inflate the strength of her support. Yet, it is equally difficult to believe Kinky’s campaign, which we hear is powered by Shiner Bock, was able to dot their I’s and cross their T’s so thoroughly.
More likely, this is gamesmanship by Perry’s stooges to deflate the public’s perception of the size of Grandma’s following.
The race for governor is interesting and will hopefully bring new voters into the political process. However, don’t be distracted by two Republicans and a comedian hoping to sell more books. This race is about restoring integrity and competence to state government. Chris Bell is the candidate with the experience fighting corruption and the integrity to do what is right for all Texans.