Run-off election, ticket declaration.
Houston City Charter, art. V, § 8
in effectSection 8. - Run-off election, ticket declaration.
(a) The successful candidate for any office must receive a majority of the votes cast in the election for his office and if no candidate for a particular office receives a majority, a run-off election must be held as provided by the Texas Election Code, Acts 1951, 52nd Legislature, page 1097, Chapter 492, Article 81.
(b) Any group of candidates for Mayor and Council Members who have duly filed for office as provided in Section 6 hereof, comprising not more than one candidate for each of the offices, may file a declaration in writing with the City Secretary stating that they have associated themselves as a ticket for the purpose of presenting to the electors their qualifications for office and their political aims, which declaration may be filed at any time after all have filed for office but not later than five o'clock P.M. (local time) of the second day next following the last day for filing for office. They shall state in the said declaration the name of their ticket which shall not exceed four words in length and which ticket name shall not use all or any part of the name of any political party which nominated candidates for State office in the State General Election last preceding, or any part of the name of any ticket previously declared by another group of candidates. No candidate shall join in the ticket declaration of more than one ticket, and after a ticket declaration is filed, no candidate's name may be withdrawn from the ticket unless the candidate withdraws his application to be candidate at the election. The City Secretary shall cause the official ballot to be printed with the names of all candidates associated in a ticket declaration shown under a column headed by the ticket name.
If a ticket declaration is attempted to be filed which uses all or any part of the name of any political party which nominated candidates for State office in the State General Election next preceding, or which uses all or any part of the ticket name of any ticket which has a declaration previously filed, the City Secretary shall reject the defective declaration as void.
The applicable provisions of the general laws of the state shall govern and control any nomination of candidates by any political party or parties. The provisions of this section are provisions for the voluntary association of candidates upon tickets to present to the electors their qualifications for office and their political aims, and these provisions are not intended to and do not affect the nomination of candidates for office by political parties as prescribed and regulated by the state general law. (Added by amendment August 16, 1955; amended August 11, 1979)
Source: City of Houston, Code of Ordinances and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/houston/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH_ARTVOFEL_S8RFELTIDEFetched: 10/26/2026