LEFT: Congressman Ronny Jackson/Photo by U.S. House of Representatives; RIGHT: Mike Kolls/Photo via campaign
Mike Kolls, a Libertarian running against Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo) has been listed as “declared ineligible” by the Texas Secretary of State.
Kolls isn’t the only libertarian affected. According to the Texas Secretary of State, of the 50 libertarian nominees for various state, district, and local offices in Texas, half have been declared ineligible.
The following candidates in races set to appear on ballots in Amarillo have been declared ineligible:
Matthew D. Sercely (Candidate for Justice, Texas Supreme Court Place 4)
Mark Ash (Candidate for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 7)
Stephan Kinsella (Candidate for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8)
Mike Kolls (Candidate for United States Congress, District 13)
The following candidates in races set to appear on ballots in Amarillo have not been affected:
Ted Brown (Candidate for United States Senate)
Hawk Dunlap (Candidate for Railroad Commissioner)
J. David Roberson (Candidate for Justice, Texas Supreme Court Place 6)
Jack B. Westbrook (Candidate for Member, State Board of Education District 15)
While no reason has been given, it appears one thing all of the candidates declared ineligible have in common is that the state lists them as “payment not received” when viewing the status of their filing fees. We reached out to Mike Kolls, Libertarian Party of Texas Chairman and the Texas Secretary of State, though none have answered.
A similar issue occurred in 2022, when the Republican Party of Texas sued to remove several Libertarian Party candidates over unpaid filing fees. However, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that the Republican Party of Texas had missed the deadline to challenge the eligibility of the candidates. Since then, the Texas legislature passed SB 994 allowing the Secretary of State to administratively declare candidates who failed to pay the filing fee ineligible.
As of writing, no Republican Party, Democratic Party, Green Party, Independent, or Write-In candidates have been declared ineligible. Notably, the website does not yet list any candidates for President or their status. The Texas Democratic Party has signaled its intent to challenge Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid to appear on the ballot.