DE LEON'S INDEPENDENT CANDIDACY NIXED BY SEC. OF STATE

By Juan Montoya
Word has reached us that Don De Leon's fledgling campaign to have himself declared an independent candidate for the newly-created District 34 Congressional District has hit a snag.
Apparently, the 79 pages of signatures on his petition have been declared invalid because the forms did not contain the number of the district for which he was running.
In all, some 790 voters who signed the forms can no longer count on De Leon's name to appear on the ballot in November.
"Under the reasoning of the Texas Supreme Court...signatures on a candidate's petition that does not contain the candidate's place (or district) number for the office sought are invalid," wrote Secretary of State Director of Elections Keith Ingram in a letter dated July 19. "Accordingly, because your petition pages do not specify the U.S. Congressional District from which you are seeking office, we find all your petition signatures invalid."
Additionally, Ingram wrote that the inclusion of petition forms containing photocopied signatures would also invalidate the application for placement on the ballot.
"We are advised that some petitioners use our forms and photocopy certain repeating words (like the county) before circulation to expedite completion. This is acceptable. However, the Texas Election Code requires that the signatures be in the voter's handwriting," he wrote.
De Leon said the reasoning given by Ingram begs belief. He said that all of the voters were registered in Cameron County which lies totally within District 34. He said that before the courts decided that parts of the former District 27 would be included in the new district, all the candidates from all the parties had listed District 27 on their applications to be placed on the ballot.
"They called us and we had to fill out another form and replace District 27 with District 34," he said. "We all did it. In the place where the district is listed we put in U.S. House of Representatives because we didn't know which district it would be until the courts decided."
De Leon said his father, former City of Brownsville commissioner Ernesto De Leon had made copies of the petition and handed them to the Secretary of State officials. With only 500 signatures required to run in the district, the forms contained a "cushion" of about 300 more just to make sure there were enough. The elder De Leon kept the originals and will make them available to state officials during a visit to their Austin offices on Monday.
"To deprive those 800 people who signed that they wanted someone else representing them besides the two main parties amounts to disenfranchising them of their constitutional right to vote for a candidate of their choice," he said. He said he is currently considering his options, including taking legal action if necessary.
The Secretary of State representative first wrote De Leon April 10 saying he had until June 29 to file his application and petition with signatures. De Leon met the deadline and was awaiting word when he got the letter July 19, less than five days before the beginning of early voting.
"The petition must contain signatures of registered voters in the territory equal to fiver percent of the votes cast in the applicable territory for the office of Governor in the last (election) of 2010 for district offices or one percent of the votes cast in the state for office of governor for statewide offices," Ingram wrote De Leon then. "Independent candidates do not have the option of filing with a filing fee instead of the required petition. "Our officially prescribed petition form still contains space for voter unique identification number (VIUD) and the date of birth of each signer. Failure to include one or the other invalidates the signature."
Now, De Leon argues, where in all that does it say anything about photocopied signatures or anything else.
"We will be talking with the Secretary of State Monday to see what our options are," he said. "I just can't give up when so many people are counting on me. It wouldn't be fair to them. I'll fight for their right to be heard."