CONROE, Texas - Ten Montgomery County residents who changed their voter registration addresses in order to capture the majority on a road utility district board last month were "morally wrong, ethically wrong, legally wrong," an attorney, James Stilwell, contesting their residency said during a court hearing Monday.

Not at all, said Eric Yollick, the attorney representing the 10 in question. But he admitted that "these people...are not normal. They are political activists."

The 10 acknowledge they all changed their voter registration a month before the May 8 election, listing a Residence Inn at 9333 Six Pines Drive as their residence. They did so in order to take control of the board of the Woodlands Road Utility District, which they claim was issuing debt and taxing businesses with no transparency or input from the public.

The issue before the court is one of voter residency in the state of Texas, and there was little dispute as to the facts of the case. The 10 registered, then cast ballots for three of their own, defeating three incumbents by a vote of 10-2 and giving the newcomers a majority on the board.

In a crafty bit of legal work, the defeated board members filed suit against the road utility district in order to prevent the canvassing of the election results. They successfully got a temporary restraining order and a trial.

The 10 newcomers to the utility district lawyered up and entered the suit as intervenors, suing the three ousted board members and the road utility district. A good summary of the case appears in the hometown paper.

The election contest case went to trial before visiting Judge Putnam K. Reiter, who will ultimately decide if the 10 voters unlawfully cast ballots by violating election residency laws.

Stilwell, representing the ousted board members, provided a map showing the addresses of each of the 10, documents from the Montgomery County Appraisal District showing the homestead exemptions for each home and testimony that stated there was just one residence in the road utility district.

Yollick, never disputing that his clients registered as voters at the Residence Inn, claimed that the contest of the election was part of an elaborate plan for the three incumbents to maintain their majority. Stilwell got a call from the three before the election after getting wind of the plan of the usurpers, Yollick said, speaking of the potential for trouble. Stilwell also met with an assistant DA with the Montgomery County District Attorney's office, which sent letters to the 10 advising them that faking their residence for an election could violate state election laws.

"Does it hurt the election process to keep people from voting?" Yollick asked Stilwell, who on two occasions Monday became a witness in the somewhat disjointed proceedings.

"Yes, it does, but it does not hurt to discourage people from voting illegally," Stilwell said.

Richard McDuffee, one of the three newly elected board members, said he changed his voter registration address on April 5, wanting to be part of the road utility district as a voter. He has several residences, he said, including one in Grimes County. He spent around a dozen nights at the Residence Inn in May, and it has become one more place he considers a residence. Stilwell charged that McDuffee committed perjury when he listed the Residence Inn as his residence on his voter registration change of address.

"Where you go today doesn't matter," Stilwell said, as much to McDuffee and Yollick as to the judge as testimony concluded.

"Maybe, maybe not," Judge Reiter said. "We'll find out about that."

It was the first time the judge had said anything about the merits of the case. He added that the crux of the case was interpretation of Texas Election Code 1.015.

Testimony will continue today and is expected to conclude Wednesday.