FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Fort Bend County Commissioner Vincent Morales took to social media Monday morning to advocate for "right-sizing and renumbering voting precincts" and letting fellow Commissioner Andy Meyers return to his home after Democrats took the unprecedented step of slicing his neighborhood out of Precinct 3, many say to make it as difficult as possible for Meyers to run for re-election.
Forcing Meyers out of his Sugar Creek neighborhood home was viewed by many as being an especially cold and politically calculated move by the majority Democrats, because his wife Janet was suffering from a terminal illness at the time, and had she not passed away, Meyers would not have been able to leave the home where he was caring for her.
Covering Katy has been unable to find another example of a sitting Texas county commissioner being redistricted out of his home and forced to move in order to run for re-election to continue serving his/her precinct.
Meyers ran and won with 59 percent of the vote, and now Morales believes it's time for the Democrats on the court to let Meyers return to his home where he and his late wife Janet raised their family.
On March 25, of this year Democratic County Judge KP George and joined Republican's Morales and Meyers, to allocate funding to review the county's precincts to ensure compliance with the Texas Election Code. Democrats Grady Prestage and Dexter McCoy voted against the move.
Morales acknowledged Republican State Representative Matt Morgan's leadership, calling for a speedy review of the precincts.
Morales says it's time to make things right with the Sugar Creek Community, where Meyers still owns his home.
"Let me be clear—I remain firmly convinced there was no legitimate reason to divide Sugar Creek," Morales wrote. "This would not only reunite the Sugar Creek community with the rest of the City of Sugar Land but also would correct an injustice."
Morales also said the map displaced more than 80% of the county's population into new precincts.
"Entire communities, projects, and long-standing relationships were cast aside. Partisan and punitive redistricting wreaks havoc on our citizens, and we must never allow our county to treat its citizens that way again," he wrote.
"Reducing overcrowded voting precincts isn't just good governance—it's a legal requirement by the State of Texas and a matter of fairness," Morales added.
Morales also believes the entire county should eventually be redistricted to maintain a fair 2-2 partisan balance of the commissioner precincts.
"I said it then, and I stand by it now: the 2021 redistricting effort imposed unnecessary and costly burdens on Fort Bend taxpayers—millions of dollars spent on transition expenses, staffing disruptions, and widespread upheaval across our judicial and law enforcement systems," Morales wrote.
Commissioners Court is expected to discuss the issue on Tuesday April 21, at the 1 p.m. Commissioner's Court Meeting, 401 Jackson Street in Richmond.
The owner of Covering Katy News, Dennis Spellman, is employed by the Precinct 3 Commissioner's Office.