“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.
This is also how the rat Tim Johnson? of ND kept his sen. seat all these years, even imcompacitated.
If a candidate in a runoff “officially” withdraws, files the papers to leave the ballot, the other candidate is automatically the nominee.