Neil Election Contest goes to the House Committee

February 11, 2011 5:08 PM

MASTER IN HD 48 CONTEST CONCLUDES DONNA HOWARD HAS WON BY FOUR VOTES
Rep. Will Hartnett (R-Dallas) says out of county voters and counting 4
unopened ballots cut into Howard's margin; adds that he's seen no
evidence of voter fraud or substantial errors.

UPDATED: We received late this afternoon the response from GOP
challenger Dan Neil's camp. Attorney Joe Nixon says that he looks
forward to taking his case to the HD 48 special committee. We reprint
his statement in its entirety below:

"We have received the Master’s recommendation, and we are in the
process of reviewing it. We have completed step one of this process,
and we intend to take our case to the committee. We believe the
evidence presented in recent hearings is worthy of a different
finding, and we are confident the committee will agree. This is an
excellent ruling to take to the committee. It shows that there are a
number of unresolved issues that need to be decided before anyone can
be declared the winner of this election."