League City voters heading to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3 could find themselves in a different precinct than the one they voted in during the March primary, with a different candidate on the ballot or no race at all for justice of the peace or county commissioner.

Two voting rights groups filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday, Aug. 4, asking the court to block Galveston County from using newly redrawn precinct maps in the November general election. The Campaign Legal Center and the UCLA Voting Rights Project argue the county illegally swapped maps between the primary and general election.

The Galveston County Commissioners Court voted unanimously on June 29 to adopt the new boundaries at a special meeting held at the county's Calder Road facility in League City. County Judge Mark Henry and all four commissioners, Darrell Apffel, Joe Giusti, Hank Dugie and Robin Armstrong, voted in favor.

The March primary was conducted under older maps. Now the county plans to use the 2026 map for November.

"The 2026 map is the legal map that's now in effect, and the elections in November are being held under the 2026 map lines," Joe Nixon, an attorney representing Galveston County through the Public Interest Legal Foundation, told a federal court at a July 28 hearing in the ongoing Petteway v. Galveston County case, according to Democracy Docket.

If allowed to stand, it would likely be the first time in Texas history that voting maps were changed between a primary and general election, according to Democracy Docket.

What it means for voters

The petition identifies five affected precincts: two commissioner precincts and three justice of the peace precincts where boundaries shifted after the primary. Voters who cast ballots in Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 during the March primary now find themselves in Precinct 4 under the new map. Only Precinct 3 was on the March ballot, where Democrat Billy Williams won the nomination. Precinct 4 officeholder Republican Kathleen McCumber has two years left on her term.

The result: some voters who participated in the March primary would wait six years between elections for justice of the peace instead of the standard four.

The petition's named plaintiffs include Galveston County Constable Dereck Rose, elected in 2024 for Precinct 3, and registered voters Wilma Green and Diane Merchant. All three lived in JP Precinct 3 at the time of the March primary and were reassigned to Precinct 4 under the new map.

Why the county redrew the maps

A June 8 county resolution to reexamine precinct boundaries cited the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais and explicitly listed "improvement of partisan performance for Republican candidates" as a basis. The final June 29 order dropped both justifications, stating only that commissioners "determined that the interests of the people of the county are best served by changing the existing boundaries."

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice said the new map was passed with minimal public notice and little discussion. The county's 2021 map is already being challenged in federal court as discriminatory against Black and Latino voters, who make up nearly half the county's population, according to the Campaign Legal Center.

What happens next

The Texas Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the emergency petition. The petition asks the court to order the county to use the same precinct boundaries for November that were used in the March primary.

The Galveston County Commissioners Court has a special meeting scheduled for Monday, Aug. 17 at 9:30 a.m. at the Calder Road location, 174 Calder Rd., Room 100, League City. The meeting agenda has not been published. No comment from County Judge Henry or any commissioner was found in public statements regarding the petition.

Residents can track the case through the Texas Supreme Court's online docket and attend the Aug. 17 meeting in person.