Updated at Jan. 24th at 9:30 p.m. with new information.

Lawyers for 14 of the 128 Democratic candidates whom the Dallas County GOP is trying to have removed from the March primary ballot have asked a court to dismiss the case.

According to a document filed late Monday on behalf of 14 candidates threatened with removal, the Dallas County Republican Party and its chairwoman, Missy Shorey, have no standing to bring the suit, since they are not candidates in the election.

"The DCRP is clearly not a candidate and Shorey does not allege that she is a candidate for any office," according to the filing from the lawyers. "As such, neither the DCRP nor Shorey have the necessary personal interest to have standing to seek the removal of any candidate from the ballot."

Buck Wood, an attorney for the candidates, said Tuesday he would file a pleading to the Dallas County court handling the case stating that it does not have jurisdiction.

On Wednesday lawyers for the Dallas County Democratic Party submitted an answer to the GOP lawsuit that was similar to the filing prepared by Wood.

Dallas lawyer Randy Johnston called the GOP's effort a cynical attempt to use the publicity from the lawsuit to disenfranchise minority voters.

He wrote that Donovan's signatures on the petitions were not forged and that she has the power to designate a person to sign the documents. Like Wood, Johnston says the point is moot because the election has already started, and the Dallas County Republican Party does not have the standing to bring the suit.

The case has been assigned to state District Judge Eric Moye, who will likely recuse himself, given his ties to the Dallas County Democratic Party. If that occurs, a visiting judge will be assigned to handle the matter.

Shorey and her attorney, Elizabeth Alvarez Bingham of Dallas, argue that county Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Donovan was required to sign the candidate paperwork of Democrats appearing on the March 6 ballot and send the documents to the Texas Secretary of State. Donovan signed only a fraction of the petitions submitted to her, but her signature, clearly signed by someone else, appears on the documents of the 128 candidates in question.

But the candidates, led by state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, say that there's nothing in election law that requires Donovan to "sign" candidate petitions, and that she can designate a person to review and sign petitions if she chooses.

Republicans say Democrats are misreading a law that clearly outlines Donovan's duties. And Bingham said Shorey and the GOP are "aggrieved" and have standing in the case.

"The response is just a desperation move to get something on paper to make people feel better," Bingham said. "The reality is the candidates are just intervenors — the courts have jurisdiction, and we have standing."

Ballots already printed

Arguments about Donovan's duties aside, Democrats say the local GOP and Shorey can't move to kick the candidates off the March 6 primary ballot because ballots have been printed and the absentee voting process began Jan. 20.

"Even if Plaintiffs had standing with respect to their claims, they would lack standing with respect to the issues related to the Democratic primary, because those issues are now moot," the filing states.

Bingham acknowledged that absentee ballots had already been distributed. She said the GOP would likely pull its temporary restraining order related to the March primary, but continue with the lawsuit to remove the Democratic Party candidates in question from the November general election.

Wood, the attorney for the 14 candidates who responded to the suit, said it's unlikely that the GOP lawsuit would result in anybody being removed from a ballot.

He said election process duties, like those of a county party chairman, should not determine the fate of an "eligible" candidate because it would open the door for sloppy or diabolical county leaders sabotaging efforts of candidates across the state.

"It's not an eligibility issue," Wood said. "There's no way anybody can be replaced."

Stormy meeting

On Monday night, many of the candidates affected by the GOP lawsuit appeared at a stormy meeting of the Dallas County Democratic Party's executive committee.

Sarah Duncan, a lawyer for the party, assured them that they would prevail in the case because Donovan had the right to allow another person to sign the candidate petitions.

Party leaders at the meeting tried to rally their activists against the local GOP, claiming that they were trying to divide, not compete with Democrats.

Bingham said blaming Republicans for filing the lawsuit was a smokescreen.

"The members of the Dallas County Democratic Party should be less concerned with beating us, and more concerned with addressing the deep dysfunction in their party, whose disrespect for the rule of law may result in widespread damage to all of them," Bingham said. "Their first concern should be addressing the root of this problem — and that is not us."

Some of the candidates at Monday's meeting were confident they wouldn't be kicked off the ballot.

"I'm not going anywhere," said state District Court Judge Lisa Green, one of the 128 candidates targeted by the GOP.

Read the Democrats' petition to intervene here: