Brittnai Brown, elected to Position 4 on the Humble Independent School District Board of Trustees on May 3, has been declared ineligible to serve due to violations of Texas residency requirements.
Brown’s opponent, Tracy Shannon, first raised the issue during the district’s May 13 school board meeting. Shannon presented election records showing that Brown voted in the October 2024 general election using an address within Houston ISD and signed an affidavit of residency there.
On her Humble ISD candidate application, Brown stated she had lived in the district for two years and seven months. However, public records show she updated her voter registration to an address within Humble ISD on February 14, 2025, after the filing deadline.
Shannon filed a lawsuit challenging Brown’s eligibility and asking to be seated as the runner-up.
Brown and Shannon both ran against incumbent trustee Ken Kirchhofer for Position 4. Brown received 4,066 votes, Shannon 3,237, and Kirchhofer 3,197.
District Chief Counsel Jeremy Binkley said that if a candidate is declared ineligible, the board has two options: appoint a replacement or call a special election.
Until a decision is made, Kirchhofer will continue serving in the role.
Shannon told Texas Scorecard that the board had to follow the law and declare Brown ineligible, saying that failure to do so would have created too much risk for the district.
“I will pursue the seat regardless of how the board proceeds because I care about this district. I have the confidence of those who voted for me, and I don’t want to let them down. I look forward to earning the confidence of those who did not select me in the voting booth,” Shannon said.
According to Shannon, Humble ISD has never held a special election and is likely to appoint someone. She called for open forums and community involvement, expressing doubt that the board would appoint her, given that some members had campaigned for Kirchhofer.
I hope the board will be receptive to the voice of the voters who called for accountability and overwhelmingly rejected Ken Kerchhofer. As the candidate with the second highest votes, I hope the board will agree with those who voted for me.
Harris County Republican Chair Cindy Siegel wrote to Texas Scorecard “I am glad to see the Humble ISD is doing their job in recognizing this candidate was ineligible to serve. However, it would have been better for the other candidates, the parents and the voters if the district had done its job before the ineligible candidate’s application was accepted and her name placed on the ballot.”
Humble ISD did not provide a timeline for when the board will decide on the next steps.
