Texas Supreme Court bars new Galveston County map for November elections

The court found the county violated the Texas Election Code by redrawing precinct boundaries after the March primaries.(CN) — The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Galveston County can’t use redrawn precinct boundaries designed to benefit Republicans in the upcoming November elections.In an unsigned opinion, the court found that county commissioners violated the Texas Election Code by redrawing precincts used to elect commissioners, constables and justices of the peace after the March primaries had already occurred.“Neither the Texas Constitution nor any statute authorizes the county to take the unusual and perhaps unprecedented step of choosing to conduct a general election using precinct lines that differ from those used in the corresponding primary election absent an overriding state or federal law obligating it to do so,” the court held. “The implicit claim that a governmental authority may unsettle the electoral map during an ongoing election for any reason (or none at all) implicates serious constitutional concerns.”The court found that primary and general elections “operate together to facilitate one election for each precinct.”“Decoupling the two changes the nature of both,” the court ruled. “The result would affect both candidates, who suddenly would be running in a different race than the one they started, and voters, who would be presented with candidates on their general-election ballot for whom they had no opportunity to vote in the primary.”The court found such an outcome could not be reconciled with the Texas Election Code’s requirement that “the conduct of elections be uniform and consistent throughout this state.”The Texas high court’s ruling comes amid an unprecedented wave of mid-decade redistricting nationwide as Republicans and Democrats vie for an edge in November’s elections.When Galveston County commissioners approved the new precinct boundaries in June, County Judge Mark Henry told Houston Public Media that one goal was to increase the likelihood of Republican victories.“I ran on the promise of being a fiscal conservative and turning Galveston County Republican,” Mark said. “This map accomplishes just that.”A county constable and two residents sued to challenge the new map. Campaign Legal Center and the UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) represent them and are also challenging the county’s previous map in federal court as unlawful racial gerrymandering.“Although the fight for fair maps in Galveston County is far from over, today’s victory sends a clear sign that Galveston County cannot illegally disenfranchise its voters,” Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement.“Electoral systems that intentionally discriminate against voters in communities of color deprive voters of an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. While we celebrate this victory at the Texas Supreme Court, we are still continuing our fight in Galveston to ensure that any discriminatory maps are struck down so all voters can make their voices heard.”Meanwhile, Paul Ready, an attorney representing the county, called the challenge to the new precinct boundaries “a purely litigation-driven farce.”“For five years, the same groups have complained that they believe the county’s 2021 precinct maps are discriminatory. Now, they want the county to put the allegedly-discriminatory maps back so they can continue litigating against the very same map they had reinstated,” Ready said in an email to Courthouse News Service.All of the November races impacted by the redrawn precinct boundaries have candidates running unopposed, he said.“It is a 100% certainty that today’s opinion will not change who is a commissioner, justice of the peace, or constable in Galveston County on January 1, 2027,” Ready said.“Meanwhile, mail-in ballots must be distributed to our soldiers serving overseas in roughly a week, and the process to revise those ballots to swap around uncontested local elections would almost certainly take more than a month. We sincerely hope that there will not be a single man or woman in uniform whose right to vote for their congressman, governor, senator or Texas Supreme Court Justice is compromised while we attempt to modify uncontested local races. We plan to ask the Texas Supreme Court to consider the practical impacts of this decision.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads