League City voters will cast ballots Tuesday, Nov. 3, using the same precinct maps from the March primary. The Texas Supreme Court blocked Galveston County's redrawn boundaries Friday, Sept. 11.

The unsigned ruling ends a months-long legal fight over whether the county could swap precinct lines mid-election. The court found the county had no authority to "change the lines applicable to an election after the election has begun," Houston Public Media reported.

Galveston County commissioners voted unanimously June 29 to adopt new boundaries for commissioner, constable and justice of the peace precincts. The meeting was held in League City, where roughly two hours of public comment preceded the vote. County Judge Mark Henry said at the time that the map would improve judicial operations, create fiscal efficiencies and boost Republican electoral chances.

"I ran on the promise of being a fiscal conservative and turning Galveston County Republican. This map accomplishes just that," Henry told Houston Public Media in June.

The new boundaries took effect immediately. Two commissioner precincts and three justice of the peace precincts on the November ballot had boundaries that differed from those voters used in March.

Precinct 3 Constable Derreck Rose and two county residents, Wilma Green and Diane Merchant, filed an emergency petition to stop the switch. The Texas Supreme Court initially sent the case to a lower court. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals denied relief Aug. 20, writing the plaintiffs had not met their burden of proof. The petitioners then refiled at the Supreme Court, which took up the case and ruled in their favor.

The court wrote that primary and general elections "operate together to facilitate one election for each precinct," according to Fox 26 Houston. Decoupling the two, the justices wrote, "changes the nature of both." Justice Kyle Hawkins did not participate in the decision.

Galveston County general counsel Paul Ready downplayed the ruling's practical effect. All candidates in the affected precincts are running unopposed. Ready told Fox 26 the decision would not change who holds office Jan. 1, 2027. He said the county planned to ask the court to consider logistical challenges, noting that military mail-in ballots must go out within roughly a week, Courthouse News Service reported.

Neil Baron, an attorney for Rose, Green and Merchant, told the Galveston County Daily News the court confirmed what the county did "wasn't fair." The Campaign Legal Center and UCLA Voting Rights Project, which represented the plaintiffs, are also challenging the county's 2021 precinct map in federal court as racially discriminatory gerrymandering.

Sarah Chen, an attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said nothing prevents the county from adopting the new map after the general election.

Early voting begins Oct. 19. The League City Annex at 174 Calder Road is among the early voting locations.