Two Democratic candidates for office in Angelina County — the nominee for sheriff and an incumbent constable — both voted in the Republican primary last month, and that was a serious no-no.  It was against the law, and they've both been taken off the ballot in the November general election.

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The two former candidates are Jim Hodges, the Democratic nominee in the county sheriff’s race, and William Wade, the current Precinct 4 constable.

Both men crossed over and voted in the Republican primary, and that violated the Texas Election Code, which prohibits candidates in a primary from voting in another party's primary.

State law says anyone who does that is not eligible to be on the ballot in the succeeding general election. The Angelina County Democratic Party had no choice but to take both men off the November ballot.

This leaves Republican Greg Sanches unopposed in the sheriff's race.  Wade was running for constable in the redrawn Precinct 3, and would have faced the winner of a runoff from the Republican primary.

Hodges and Wade both say they didn't know it was against the law for them to cross over and vote in the GOP primary.  We believe them because we didn't know that either.

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