A Fort Bend County Commission candidate who was removed from the runoff ballot after a dispute over her residency and voter registration, is back in the race thanks to a Texas Supreme Court ruling.
The name of Brittanye Morris, who had secured the most votes in the March primary, will appear on the ballot after the state Supreme Court overruled an earlier judicial order. Morris had secured the most votes in a March primary.
According to the latest ruling, Morris will be on the ballot against April Jones in the Democratic primary runoff for Fort Bend County Precinct 4 commissioner on May 26.
A Venn diagram might be needed to explain what unfolded since the March 3 primary, when none of the candidates in the five-person race got more than 50 percent of the vote.
Morris earned 18.84 percent; Jones earned 17.63 percent; and Nicole Roberts earned 16.4 percent. Roberts then filed a lawsuit against the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, claiming Morris used the address of a home she doesn’t live in on her filing paperwork. Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chair Jennifer Cantu was named in the suit because she certified the paperwork when, according to Roberts, the address Morris provided couldn’t have matched her identification.
Coincidentally, another Precinct 4 candidate, Nabil Shike, used the same address as Morris when he filed and he doesn’t live there either, according to court documents. And, Roberts says, the Ashford Hollow home claimed by both candidates isn’t even in Precinct 4.
Harris County District Judge Susan Brown sided with Roberts on a claim that Morris wasn’t registered to vote in Precinct 4 of Fort Bend County when she filed to run for commissioner. At the time, Morris issued a statement saying Roberts’ claims were “entirely unfounded” and that she was confident the “rule of law would prevail.”
Morris issued a press release on April 10 declaring that Texas election law prohibits defeated candidates from regaining ballot access under certain circumstances and claiming her eligibility for the runoff is valid. She also says, via her campaign, that state law does not allow removal of a candidate between a primary and a runoff.
Court records show that the Texas Supreme Court granted a “stay” in the matter of Nicole Roberts v. Jennifer Cantu and the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, meaning the previous decision by Judge Brown was essentially overturned.
Morris did not respond to repeated requests for an interview over the weekend and on Monday. She still hasn’t answered the question of why — or even if — she used a false address on her filing paperwork. ABC 13 has reported that Morris’ neighbors in the Upper Kirby neighborhood of Houston say she still lives there but her campaign claims she’s renting a $3 million estate in Fort Bend County. Until December 2024, Morris served as a Harris County district judge.
Morris’ press release dismisses Roberts’ claims as coming from “a defeated opponent seeking to re-enter the race,” and says the legal challenge was an unlawful attempt to overturn certified election results and bypass voter decision-making.
“The voters made their choice clear on March 3,” Morris said in her statement. “Attempts to reverse that outcome through the courts are not only baseless but undermine confidence in our elections.”
Andy Taylor, a prominent elections attorney who typically litigates Republican voting issues, was reportedly hired by Morris and could not be reached for comment Monday.
Roberts conceded on social media last week that after a couple of weeks of campaigning as though she, not Morris, would be facing Jones in the runoff, she’s out of the race again.
“The Supreme Court granted a stay to prevent my name from appearing on the ballot and allowed an ineligible candidate to remain on the ballot,” she wrote. “We need someone [who] truly cares about the constituents, has integrity and improves quality of life for everyone, especially at the local level. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t stop the disenfranchisement of the people this time, but the fight will always continue.”
A Republican runoff for Precinct 4 commissioner is also set for May 26, between Ken Mathews and Adam Schoof.
