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As more and more instances make the Texas headlines about convicted felons running for public office, the question is whether felons are allowed to run.
The the answer is not clear in the Texas Election Code, which states that an eligible candidate must âhave not been finally convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities.â
While a pardon is relatively clear cut, itâs the other part of the code that has people scratching their heads: âotherwise released from the resulting disabilities.â
Does that mean a convicted felon who has served his or her time in prison can then later run for office? No one seems to know.
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On Monday’s Houston Matters: Area hospitals are among the first receiving doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine today. The FDA authorized the vaccine for emergency use Friday. We learn more.
And residents in Houston City Council District B elected Tarsha Jackson to represent them on Council on Saturday, in a long-awaited runoff against Cynthia Bailey. How long? More than a year.
Also this hour: How might the Biden administration affect Houston’s energy industry? We talk it over in the first of a week of conversations on what the new administration might mean for Greater Houston.
In Humble, Paula Settle defeated Arliss Bailey by just two votes for Council Member Place 4, according to unofficial results.
Baytown voters chose Jacob Powell for Councilmember District 5 over Thomas Parent with 65 percent of the vote, and Mike Lester defeated Susan Cummings for Councilmember District 6 with 53 percent of the vote. In La Porte, Gary Rohr won the Councilperson District 6 race with 60 percent of the vote over Robbie McLarrin.
In Nassau Bay, Bob Warters defeated Ashley Graves in the mayor s race with 56 percent of the vote.
Runoffs are held when candidates fail to garner more than 50 percent of the vote in an election.
The new council member is expected to be sworn in around Dec. 21.
December 13, 2020, 10:37 AM
Tarsha Jackson, the new council member for Houston City Council District B, is a longtime criminal justice organizer and vocally supported her opponent Cynthia Bailey in her fight to remain on the ballot despite having been convicted of a felony in the past.
Voters in District B elected Tarsha Jackson to Houston City Council on Saturday, after a slow-moving legal battle kept the race off the ballot for an entire year.
While 15 out of 16 council members were elected in 2019, District B residents waited for their chance to vote.