FORNEY, TX — A Kaufman County District Court has halted the Devonshire Residential Association’s 2026 Board of Directors election following a lawsuit filed by a local homeowner alleging widespread election irregularities, conflicting deadlines, and an "email-gated" voting process that left many residents in the dark.
The lawsuit, filed by Devonshire resident Jason Harris, names both the Devonshire Residential Association and its management company, Capital Consultants Management Corporation (CCMC), as defendants.
On March 30, 2026, a district court judge signed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) officially freezing the election. The order strictly prohibits the HOA and CCMC from certifying or officially announcing the final results, or from seating, swearing in, or recognizing any purported winners of the disputed 2026 election.
Allegations of Broken Systems and Faulty Notice
According to court documents, Harris claims the association failed to provide fair, timely, and uniform notice to homeowners regarding candidate solicitation, voting instructions, and how to access ballots.
The lawsuit highlights a chaotic timeline of official communications containing conflicting information:
• An electronic "Invitation to Vote" sent to Harris on March 12, 2026, stated that online voting would close at 11:30 a.m. on March 30.
• Concurrently, a separate annual meeting packet distributed to homeowners stated that ballots had to be received by 12:00 p.m. on March 30.
Furthermore, Harris alleges that the HOA relied heavily on an email-dependent voting process through a new communication system. The lawsuit states that the transition to this system caused major disruptions, with the HOA later admitting that emails were being kicked back and certain RSVP and voting links were faulty.
Under Devonshire’s bylaws and Texas Property Code § 209.00592, notice for an election held outside a meeting via absentee or electronic ballot must be given to each owner at least 20 days before the final ballot deadline. Harris contends that many residents never received uniform notice, giving some homeowners a significantly shortened window to participate or shutting them out completely.
Community-Wide Confusion
The lawsuit is backed by numerous sworn affidavits from Devonshire homeowners who detailed their struggles to participate in the community's governance:
• Multiple residents signed statements under penalty of perjury declaring that they never received any notification of the election or candidate solicitations.
• Others reported a confusing web of communication from HOA staff. On March 26, 2026, the HOA issued an "Annual Meeting Reschedule Notice," citing a "procedural matter".
• When residents contacted the community office, frontline staff reportedly confirmed that the "entire process will be restarted" and candidate solicitations would be re-opened. However, other advisory committee members were told behind the scenes that the candidate pool would remain closed, creating deep contradictions within the community.
Harris also claims that after he formally requested election records and challenged the process, the HOA's legal counsel sent him a retaliatory cease-and-desist letter threatening enforcement action over an unrelated home-office activity. He is seeking explicit court protection against any further retaliatory or selective enforcement conduct while the litigation is ongoing.
What Happens Next?
The court determined that the potential loss of a fair and lawful election process constitutes "immediate and irreparable injury" that cannot be adequately remedied by money damages alone.
In addition to halting the election certification, the judge ordered the defendants to strictly preserve all physical ballots, electronic voting logs, registration-code records, email bounce-back logs, and election communications.
Harris, representing himself pro se, is seeking a permanent injunction that would declare the current 2026 election invalid and force the Devonshire HOA to re-notice and re-run the entire election in strict compliance with Texas law and its own governing documents.
The case preserves the status quo in Devonshire until a formal temporary injunction hearing can be concluded. CCMC and the Devonshire Residential Association have been served with the suit as the community awaits a final ruling on its leadership's future.
