Galveston County’s use of election maps that commissioners redrew in June, months after voters had already voted in the 2026 primary elections, has been blocked by the Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX ).
After a primary has already been held for that election cycle, a province may not change director or justice of the peace ( JP) downtown lines, according to an anonymous mind released on Friday.
Although the state’s constitution allows a commissioners court to redesign precincts “from time to time,” according to Galveston County’s attorneys, a principal and the accompanying general election are essentially “one election,” according to SCOTX justices ‘ opinions.
Absent an overarching state or federal law, the court wrote,” Neither the Texas Constitution nor any legislation authorizes the County to choose to do a general election using downtown lines that are not those used in the corresponding major election.”
The judge noted that the state’s fresh diagram had “unmoor the general election from its corresponding major,” cause voters to be presented with candidates running in a different race than the one they did in the main, and place them with candidates for whom they had no choice but to cast ballots in the main.
Following the Galveston County Commissioners Court’s redefinition of boundaries for the commissioners, constables, and JPs in June, a petition was brought to recover the SCOTX mind.
The new charts extended director Precinct 3 north toward League City and Friendswood, and aligned the sheriff and JP districts with those of the commissioners. However, some people claimed that the state had diluted the voting power of black and Hispanic occupants and that voters had already cast votes for the applicants in the March 2026 primary elections.
Galveston County Constable Derreck Rose (D-Pct. ), assisted by the Campaign Legal Center ( CLC ) and the University of California, Los Angeles ‘ Voting Rights Project. The state’s highest civil judge denied the plea on August 14 without prejudice and directed the plaintiffs to record with a lower court after they had initially requested a writ of mandamus immediately with SCOTX.
They once more appealed to SCOTX after an appeals court denied the plaintiffs ‘ request.
The court’s decision only affected redistricting between a primary election and a related general election, not whether the map is a racial or partisan gerrymander.
The county is free to implement the redrawn precincts for the next full cycle in 2028, unless a federal court orders otherwise, despite the court’s objections to this year’s blocking of the county’s use.
The county may redistrict “from time to time” under Friday’s ruling, but it is not permitted to switch maps between a primary and its general election.
The Petteway v. Galveston federal lawsuit was the subject of Galveston County’s 2021 redistricting plan, which launched mid-decade redistricting in Texas and across the nation last year. A U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Voting Rights Act (VRA ) does not permit minority coalition claims.
The Petteway lawsuit is still up for appeal, but Callais v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court of the United States’s decision, added to the implied requirement that race be taken into account when redistricting.
The SCOTX opinion, according to CLC attorney Mark Gaber, “is a clear sign that Galveston County cannot illegally disenfranchise its voters.”
Voters in communities of color are denied an equal opportunity to participate in politics because electoral systems intentionally discriminate against them. We are still fighting in Galveston to prevent any discriminatory maps from being removed so that all voters can have their voices heard, despite our victory at the Texas Supreme Court.
The federal deadline for sending military and other overseas ballots on September 19 is just over one week away.
Judge Mark Henry of Galveston County did not respond to a request for comment right away.
