That happened on my watch, when a justice resigned leaving a vacancy in the Chief Justice position on the 2nd Appellate Court in Ft. Worth. Only one person sought the position, Place 7 Justice Terri Livingston, resulting in her temporary appointment by Governor Perry. Her appointment left Place 7 open, also too late to get on the Primary ballot. When this situation happens, the County Chairs are called upon to select a candidate to be put on the November Ballot.
On May 22, 2010, 12 Republican County Chairs from our district met to select a candidate to put on the November ballot for Place 7 of the 2nd Appellate Court. We, individually, had been interviewing candidates for weeks before this meeting. We selected Judge Lee Gabriel from Denton County out of 7 extremely qualified candidates. She was then appointed by the governor to fill the Place 7 position to serve until the election.
We also officially selected Justice Livingston for the ballot. Both of these were subsequently elected in the November 2010 election.
State Chair (at that time) Cathie Adams opened the meeting.
When this situation happens on a county level, the County Executive Committees for each party select a candidate to put on the November ballot.
