This article is over 7 years old

Politics

City Of Houston Sued Over Ballot Language For Term Limit Change

The lawsuit alleges the city left out critical information on last election’s Proposition 2.

Share

Listen

To embed this piece of audio in your site, please use this code:

<iframe src="https://embed.hpm.io/128124/128113" style="height: 115px; width: 100%;"></iframe>
X
Eric Dick
Attorney Eric Dick has filed a lawsuit alleging the city misled voters with the ballot language on changing term limits.

Voters approved extending term limits for Houston's elected officials from three two-year terms to two four-year terms on Nov. 3.

A lawsuit now alleges voters were tricked into voting for the change.

"If they were honest in this language, it would have been struck down," attorney Eric Dick said.

He filed the suit on behalf of Phillip Paul Bryant, who has previously run for Houston City Council.

Dick, who has run for mayor and city council himself, said the ballot language was misleading in several ways.

One, it asked voters if term lengths should be limited to four years, without mentioning that currently it’s two years.

"Second is, it says it will limit the length for all terms of elected office to four years," Dick said, "suggesting that the maximum amount of time an individual can serve would be four years."

Dick also said voters had no idea it means some incumbent council members can serve a total of 10 years in office.

Mayoral spokeswoman Janice Evans released a statement saying, "Voters clearly understood what they were voting on. The large margin of voter approval is proof of this. The City will mount a vigorous defense and is confident it will prevail."

Here’s the original petition

Today in Houston Newsletter Signup
We're in the process of transitioning services for our Today in Houston newsletter. If you'd like to sign up now, fill out the form below and we will add you as soon as we finish the transition. **Please note** If you are already signed up for the newsletter, you do not need to sign up again. Your subscription will be migrated over.