Tarris Woods v. Rusty Legg, 363 S.W.3d 710

Woods, incumbent Galveston City Councilmember, ran against Legg in District 1 runoff on June 19, 2010.
Woods filed an election contest under Tex. Elec. Code § 221.003 alleging illegal votes, blocked voting, and other misconduct.
Trial court held a bench trial, denied the contest, and affirmed Legg's victory.
On appeal, Woods challenges the denial and seeks a new election, alleging misassignment of voters and prevented votes.
Hurricane Ike displaced many residents; residency and registration issues were central to eligibility and voting procedures.
The court applies clear-and-convincing evidence standard to determine if violations materially affected the outcome.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Misassignment of voters affected outcome	Woods showed misassignment of District 1 residents to other precincts	Legg contends evidence insufficient to prove a material effect	No reversible error; evidence insufficient to show material effect on outcome.
Eligibility and denial of votes to named voters	Woods proves aggrieved voters were eligible but denied the vote	Legg argues absence of clear and convincing proof of improper denial	Trial court proper in denying relief; Woods failed to prove eligible-denial by clear and convincing evidence.
Effect of residence/registration rules on voting	Residence/registration procedures impacted eligibility	Procedures are mandatory and correctly applied	Procedures properly applied; no error in outcome related to residence/registration.

Price v. Lewis, 45 S.W.3d 215 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2001) (burden to show material effect of violations)
Olsen v. Cooper, 24 S.W.3d 608 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2000) (clear and convincing standard for contest)
Slusher v. Streater, 896 S.W.2d 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1995) (material irregularities must affect results)
In re J.F.C., 96 S.W.3d 256 (Tex. 2002) (standard for reviewing factual credibility in bench trials)
City of Keller v. Wilson, 168 S.W.3d 802 (Tex. 2005) (appellate deference to trial court credibility determinations)
Kennelly v. Gates, 406 S.W.2d 351 (Tex. Civ. App.—Houston 1966) (irregularities immaterial absent material effect)
Speights v. Willis, 88 S.W.3d 817 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2002) (residence inquiry factors and intent)
Mills v. Bartlett, 377 S.W.2d 636 (Tex. 1964) (residence determination factors; nexus of evidence)
Texas v. Florida, 306 U.S. 398 (1939) (status of residence and intentions informing domicile)
In re Graham, 251 S.W.3d 844 (Tex. App.—Austin 2008) (statements inconsistent with actual residence are of slight weight)
Green v. Reyes, 836 S.W.2d 203 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1992) (standard for evaluating vote-count issues in elections)