Texas Independence Vote Is Imminent, Group's Leader Says

The leader of a movement advocating Texan independence says that a referendum vote on the issue is close.

Daniel Miller and members of the Texas National Movement delivered 139,456 signatures to the Republican Party headquarters in Austin. Miller said there were 170,097 signatures in total, but 30,426 were rejected because some forms had been incorrectly completed. A further 215 removal requests were honored, he said.

Speaking on the Texas News podcast, Miller said he "expects this to be on the ballot in March" during the Texas primaries.

"Do I believe it is going to be as easy as dropping off almost 140,000 signatures at the RPT office? No, I don't… They cannot and will not let this happen without a fight," he said.

According to the Texas election code, the minimum number of signatures needed for a referendum to be considered is "five percent of the total vote received by all candidates for governor in the party's most recent gubernatorial general primary election."

This refers to the most recent Republican gubernatorial primary in 2022 when 1,954,172 votes were cast, electing incumbent State Governor Greg Abbott. A total of 97,709 signatures are therefore needed.

The State Republican Executive Committee was due to decide ballot propositions for March 2024 earlier this month. Currently, no statewide ballot measures are certified to be on the March ballot.

Texas has previous when it comes to the idea of secession and it is often mentioned whenever Republican voters become upset over what they see as too much interference from the federal government, usually when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office.

Former Governor Rick Perry joked in 2009 when Barack Obama was president that Texas might consider secession, but also said "we've got a great union."

In 2022, the Texas State Republican Convention approved a platform outlined in a 40-page document that Texas hold a referendum in 2023 "for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."

It said: "Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto."

Any such referendum would not be legally binding and merely advisory.

Newsweek has approached the Texas National Movement and Texas GOP for comment.

The Texas Independence Referendum Act, often referred to as "TEXIT," was introduced by then-state representative Bryan Slaton in March this year, but did not get out of its committee stage.

Miller said he already has attorneys willing to help with his case if the Republican Party reject the request to put the issue on the 2024 ballot.

The issue is contentious and Miller said on the podcast that the petition was delivered in secret because he feels the need to be "careful."

"It was a matter of being safe," he said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, adding that somebody had threatened him and was "wishing death" on him.