A court ruling removes Brittanye Morris from the Precinct 4 race, positioning Nicole Roberts to face April Jones in the May 26 Democratic runoff.
A court ruling removes Brittanye Morris from the Precinct 4 race, positioning Nicole Roberts to face April Jones in the May 26 Democratic runoff.Fort Bend County Judge Susan Brown has issued a ruling that reshapes the Democratic runoff for Fort Bend County Precinct 4 commissioner, declaring former Harris County District Judge Brittanye Morris ineligible to run and advancing third‑place primary finisher Nicole Roberts to the May ballot.
Roberts said she was grateful for the decision, explaining that while she felt confident in the facts of the case, the outcome of any courtroom proceeding is never guaranteed.
“Even with a strong case, you just never know when you get into a courtroom,” Roberts said. “The ruling protects voters from further disenfranchisement by removing a candidate she argues was never eligible to run.”
According to Roberts, the challenge centered on both residency and voter‑registration requirements. She said public records showed Morris was not a registered voter in Precinct 4 on the day she filed for office, a requirement under state law following redistricting.
“You’ve got to be able to vote for yourself on the day that you register to run for office, and she wasn’t,” Roberts explained. “Public documents show that she was not a registered voter in Precinct 4, so that was pretty much an open‑and‑shut deal.”
The Precinct 4 seat is open because Commissioner Dexter McCoy is running for Fort Bend County judge. Roberts noted that McCoy has been widely regarded as an effective and engaged commissioner, and she said the next officeholder will be expected to continue the level of service and community commitment he established during his tenure.
Roberts also questioned Morris’ residency claims, pointing to what she described as conflicting information about property ownership, leases, and homestead filings.
“Now the narratives that have come from having property in Fort Bend, having a lease in Fort Bend even though her homestead is in Harris County, those things are important to show that there’s still dishonesty that’s there,” she said. “When we think about the candidates that we want to run for office, we believe in them to make the right decisions. We trust them to have integrity.”
Judge Brown signed the final judgment Friday, which Roberts says immediately places her on the runoff ballot and requires the party and elections office to follow it when printing ballots, while Morris still has a 30‑day window to appeal.
Morris responded publicly on social media, saying her campaign remains confident the ruling will not stand. “While we are disappointed with the court’s ruling, we remain fully confident that the rule of law will ultimately prevail… We also believe that these political tactics by a third‑place candidate will not succeed in the end,” she wrote.
If the ruling remains unchanged, Roberts will face April Jones on May 26, with early voting scheduled for May 18–22.
