After county commissioners redrew boundaries once more in June 2026, months after the state’s primary elections, and a new group of plaintiffs are now asking for an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX ), the county is once more facing legal challenges regarding redistricting.
The adoption of the 2021 boundaries for Galveston County commissioners resulted in a federal lawsuit alleging that the map constituted a Voting Rights Act (VRA ) violation. Plaintiffs in Petteway v. Galveston argued that commissioner Precinct 3 had been unlawfully revised because it failed to unite black and Hispanic voters to form a majority coalition.
The U.S. Supreme Court permitted the state to use the 2021 map while the case was being appealed, despite a federal district court judge primarily ruling in favor of Petteway et al.
Therefore, in 2024, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the VRA “does not sanction partnership says, either expressly or by implication,” leading to mid-decade redistricting in Texas and across the nation.
The Petteway lawsuit is still up for appeal, but Callais v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court of the United States, added to the conveyed requirement that contest be taken into account when redistricting.
The restrictions for the commission, policemen, and judges of the peace were once again redrew in June of this year at the Galveston County Commissioners Court. The new maps generally align the sheriff and JP counties with the commission ‘ and extend the boundaries of commissioner Precinct 3 north toward League City and Friendswood, which critics claim more erodes the voting power of black and Hispanic residents.
Agenda for the Texas Commissioners Court Special Meeting in Galveston County.
On behalf of Galveston County Constable Derreck Rose (D-Pct ), the Campaign Legal Center ( CLC ) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA ) Voting Rights Project (VRP ) requested an urgent writ of mandamus last week. 3 ) and two visitors.
Galveston’s Black and Latino voters have been fighting for honest maps for almost 20 years. They deserve to have their voices heard and their seats counted, according to CLC spokesperson Mark Gaber. The County Commission has once more approved an unconstitutional image, this time in the midst of a busy election campaign. We are working tirelessly to ensure that voters may choose their candidate of choice in a meaningful way.
Gaber and the plaintiffs contend that using the new 2026 image without allowing people to cast ballots in a related main election violates the Texas Election Code and the U.S. Constitution’s equal security provisions.
According to Bernadette Reyes, the UCLA VRP’s voting rights guidance,” Election rules does not change once voters have now begun casting ballots.” When regions are redrawn in the middle of an election, it poses a threat to both equal picture and trust in our political process. Our petition asks the court to defend those basic principles and right.
After the all-Republican commissioners court approved the 2026 chart in June, Galveston County Judge Mark Henry argued that the revised precincts would “improve criminal functionality for the Justices of the Peace, increase opportunities for government governmental efficiencies, and improve political outcomes.”
In a speech, Henry stated,” It has always been my conviction that overlapping Constable, [JP], and Commissioner precincts would be the most effective and useful setup. I backed the campaign promises to become a fiscal liberal and a Republican in Galveston County. This image accomplishes that very well.
Lawyers for Galveston County noted that each of the two state commission and the three JP prospects on the ballot this year ran unopposed in their primary elections and that each is also unopposed in the November general election.
The state’s attorneys, including Joseph Nixon of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, also argued that plaintiffs improperly bypassed lower courts “without reason” and waited more than 30 times after the map’s passage to record with SCOTX. Additionally, they assert that claimants are asking the court to interfere with Texas ‘ rushed election.
Galveston County requested in July that the Petteway petition be dismissed because the new 2026 map renders the situation moot, but U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Brown granted the request next week.
The Texas Supreme Court’s decision can be found in the following table.
