'It's so significant when you deal with people's right to vote': Ex-Harris County commissioner sues Hidalgo over 2021 redistricting meeting

Former Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack is suing Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo over a redistricting meeting he claims violated state law.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Radack, a Republican, took issue with the meeting held by the Harris Co. Commissioners Court on Oct. 28, 2021.

According to Radack, the commissioners ran afoul of the state's Open Meetings Act by not sharing a newly-drawn map with the public.

The map in question was approved just three days after the meeting, the publication reported.

“We believe the evidence will show that the map was created prior to Oct. 28 but a decision was made not to share that map with the public,” Andy Taylor, who serves as Radack’s legal counsel in the lawsuit, told the Houston Chronicle.

Radack, who last served on the commissioners court a year ago, claimed Hidalgo and Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Rodney Ellis, the body’s two other Democrats, flouted the Open Meetings Act for a long time.

"It's so significant when you deal with people's right to vote," Radack told ABC13. "For the last three years, these three Democratic members of the court have played 'loosey goosey' with the Open Meetings Act and it's going to catch up with them this time."

Radack hopes his lawsuit, which was filed on New Year's Eve, voids the court’s adoption of the new maps.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee called the complaint "meritless," but Hidalgo and the county haven't provided a formal response to the suit as of Jan. 4, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Harris County, Texas’s largest county and the nation’s third largest, is a Democratic stronghold that sparred with the state’s GOP leadership over election procedures, especially during and after the 2020 presidential race.

The Republican-controlled state legislature has since passed legislation to strengthen election security.