A Fort Bend County district court judge has ruled that Brittanye Morris, the top vote-getter in the Democrat primary for Precinct 4 County Commissioner, cannot appear on the May 26 runoff ballot due to a residency dispute, and a third-place finisher is now set to take her spot.
434th District Judge Susan Brown signed the order on April 3, finding Morris ineligible under Texas residency requirements and directing the Fort Bend County Democratic Party to replace her on the runoff ballot with Nicole Roberts. Roberts had filed the lawsuit after finishing third in the March 3 primary.
The legal argument centers on a state law requirement that commissioner candidates must have lived continuously within the precinct for six months prior to the candidate filing deadline. The filing deadline was December 8, 2025, meaning candidates needed to establish precinct residency by June 8, 2025. Roberts argued Morris did not meet that standard.
Morris, a former judge on the 333rd District Court in Harris County whose term ended in December 2024, registered to vote in Fort Bend County on January 30, 2025, listing a Richmond address, and later re-registered at a different Precinct 4 address on January 1, 2026, nearly four weeks after the filing deadline. Roberts also pointed to public documents showing Morris listed a Houston P.O. box as her mailing address on her candidate application, held a Texas driver’s license tied to a Houston address, and had her vehicle registered in Harris County.
The Fort Bend County Democratic Party, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has filed an appeal. Morris has retained election attorney Andy Taylor, who contends that Texas law does not permit the removal of a candidate from a runoff ballot.
Morris pushed back on the ruling in a statement, saying her campaign would continue and that any orders issued are not final for at least 30 days. She also filed a petition in intervention arguing the court lacked jurisdiction and that Roberts had no legal standing to bring the case. The filing cited the Texas Election Code and argued that once a candidate qualifies for a runoff ballot, that status cannot be undone through litigation.
Roberts, for her part, said the case was about more than one race. “From the beginning, this was never about the outcome of one race,” Roberts said in a statement. “It was about making sure our elections are fair, transparent, and worthy of the voters’ trust.”
The ruling, if it stands, would place Roberts in a runoff against second-place finisher April Jones ahead of the May 26 election. The Precinct 4 seat is open after incumbent Commissioner Dexter McCoy stepped down to run for Fort Bend County Judge, a race in which he is also heading into a runoff against Rachelle Carter.
Morris has called the legal challenge “an unlawful attempt to overturn certified election results and bypass voter decision-making.” The Fort Bend County Democratic Party declined to comment.
The Morris case is not the only residency dispute to hit Fort Bend County Democrats this cycle.
Just days earlier, Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chairwoman Dr. Jennifer Cantu declared Paula Maria Miller, the primary winner in the County Court at Law No. 3 race, ineligible to appear on the November general election ballot, citing a state law requirement that statutory county court judges must have resided in the county for at least two years before taking office.
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