Voters in Houston chose to support greater representation of Houston in regional planning organizations as 65% of voters supported Proposition B, which will now require Houston to leave any government council that does not apportion votes based on population, including the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
Updated Nov. 7 at 10:40 p.m.
Support for Proposition B leads with 64% of votes counted.
What you need to know
- Votes in favor: 85,606
- Votes against: 48,317
Early voters in Houston have shown support for Proposition B, which would require Houston to leave any government council that does not apportion votes based on population, including the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
The gist
Roughly 63% of early voters supported Proposition B following a years-long discussion about the concern that regional planning groups like the H-GAC have not had proportional representation for Houston residents.
Although Harris County has more than 60% of the residents in the H-GAC coverage area, only 21.6% of the 37 H-GAC board of directors represent the county or cities within the county.
Officials with Fair for Houston, a grassroots campaign, submitted 23,665 verified signatures from registered Houston voters to the Houston city secretary for this proposition to be on the ballot.
Community Impact previously reported previous instances where the H-GAC voted in a way that broke away from Harris County members, including a March 2021 vote to support a controversial I-45 expansion project and a February 2022 flood control funding vote that saw Harris County get 2% of the $488 million pot.
One more thing
In October, the H-GAC board of directors and Transportation Policy Council initiated committees to review the voting structures and representation by all participating members and recommend any bylaw changes, according to the organization’s website.
All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
