Thanks. My exact question is: if, today, say, Stockman were to officially drop out (for whatever reason) before 7pm, but still his counted votes put Cornyn in a runoff, would Stockman still be on the runoff ballot?
And if he forces Cornyn into a runoff then drops out tomorrow (for whatever reason), does the nomination automatically go to Cornyn or does Cornyn have to runoff against the person who got the next most votes after Stockman?
“Thanks. My exact question is: if, today, say, Stockman were to officially drop out (for whatever reason) before 7pm, but still his counted votes put Cornyn in a runoff, would Stockman still be on the runoff ballot?”
There is a cut off date to drop out and that is long gone - if a candidate drops out after that date, his name is still on the ballot. We had a county Republican county judge candidate die in September but his name had to stay on the ballot and this dead candidate almost won over the Democrat in November.
So, I think Stockman’s name would have to stay on there even if he “said” he was dropping out. If he is the one who got the second amount of votes, another candidate cannot be put in his place.