Texas Republican Judicial Primary Race Omitted from the Ballot in Cochran County

The Republican Party of Texas may end up having to re-do the primary election for the 7th Court of Appeals District, Place 4- Unexpired Term.

This judicial seat is currently held by Larry Doss and he was challenged in Tuesday's Republican Primary by Steven Denny. The judicial district is in 46 counties; including Lubbock, Potter, and Randall.

After Tuesday's Primary, Steven Denny appeared to beat Larry Doss, 50.17% to 49.83%. The raw vote total was 46,002 votes for Denny and 45,683 votes for Doss; a margin of 319 votes.

However, an oddity was noticed through the results posted online: No votes for either candidate in both Cochran and Collingsworth counties.

KFYO News reached out to the Texas Secretary of State Office and was told the oddity had been confirmed. Stephen Chang with the TX SOS said, "On my end, it would appear that the race you referenced is separated by 414 votes (sic). We have no votes reported in that race from those two Counties. That indicates they didn’t have it on their ballot. However, you would need to confirm this with the elections offices of the two Counties in question."

Sample ballots, posted online, for the 2020 Republican Primary in Cochran County, omitted this race: 7th Court of Appeals District, Place 4- Unexpired Term.  Click here to see the GOP sample ballots from Cochran County.

A 2020 Republican Party Primary sample ballot is not posted online from Collingsworth County, so it has not been 100% confirmed that the 7th Court of Appeals District, Place 4- Unexpired Term race was not on their ballot.

However, even with one county's voters missing from a multi-county election, a candidate in the election could have legal standing to file a lawsuit. A West Texas Republican Party chairman told KFYO News on Wednesday afternoon, that in this case, a lawsuit could either force a re-election in just Cochran and/or Collingsworth counties, or force a re-election for this office throughout the whole district.

In addition, KFYO News was told that if a re-election ends up being called for Doss vs. Denny, it could potentially happen during the month of May.