Neil Still Gunning for Howard's Seat

Having failed to defeat Austin Democrat Donna Howard on Election Day, Republican Dan Neil is taking his fight for House District 48 to the Legislature. On Dec. 20, Neil's campaign filed a petition for an election contest with the House, alleging problems with the ballot. In the 60-page filing, Neil's campaign unleashed a scattershot blast of allegations against the Travis County Elections Division, ranging from two missing ballots to an allegation about 1,900 ineligible voters. In a press release, Neil claimed they were "felons who may have been ineligible to vote" but did not provide any evidence to back this claim. Howard's attorney, Buck Wood, has filed special exceptions with the House, savaging Neil's suit as too vague to allow a real response. Instead of showing due diligence in the filing, said Wood, the Republican was throwing "a bunch of ideas to see what sticks." Howard won on election night with a 16-vote margin over Neil, which dropped to 12 after a Dec. 2 recount – see "Republicans Denied a Supermajority (Again)," Dec. 10. If Neil were to win his challenge, it would give the Republicans a 102-seat majority in the Texas House. Howard called Neil's attempt to get an election do-over a quest for "a political intervention that will trump the voters' will."