Texas politics
Special elections make ballot odd
Dave MCNEELY

As if it weren't strange enough already, the fact that six of Texas' 32 congressional districts will have special elections makes it stranger still.

Five of the six congressional districts involved are because a federal court re-drew lines for Republican Henry Bonilla's rambling 23rd Congressional District, to add more Hispanics. The court found that the Tom Delay-driven congressional redistricting in 2003 had sought to protect Bonilla at the expense of Hispanic representation.

The ripple effect from changing those lines affected four other adjacent districts - the 15th, represented by Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes; the 21st, represented by Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio; the 25th, represented by Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; and the 28th, represented by Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

The three-judge court decreed that those five seats would be decided by special elections, to be held in conjunction with the Nov. 7 general election.

The factor that adds to the craziness of a congested race for governor is that the special elections will be detached from the major party levers. In each of the special elections, all candidates are on the ballot together, regardless of party. If no one gets a majority, a runoff in December will decide between the top two.

But if, for instance, a voter wants to vote for Republican Bonilla, or Democrat Doggett, casting a straight-ticket Republican or Democratic vote won't get it done. If voters in those districts want to vote for those candidates, and also the other Republicans or Democrats on the ballot, they'll have to vote twice.

Secretary of State Roger Williams says it's up to individual county election administrators whether the special elections are above or below the regular election ballot. But he is strongly suggesting that the administrators to put them first.

Although several candidates are competing in each of the five of the districts, the handicappers figure that Bonilla is the only one who might lose his seat.

The sixth congressional district in which there is a special election is the 22nd, southwest of Houston. That's the one where the indictment of Republican DeLay forced him to step down from his position as House Majority Leader, and later, after he'd won the GOP primary, to quit the House altogether and drop off the ballot.

Gov. Rick Perry declined to call a special election to fill out DeLay's term until it could coincide with the Nov. 7 general election. Meanwhile, federal courts refused to allow the Republican Party to replace DeLay on the ballot with another GOP candidate.

The result is that Nick Lampson, the former Democratic congressman whose defeat DeLay had all but guaranteed by drawing his district out from under him, may well take over DeLay's seat next January.

The Republican Party has decided to back Houston City Council member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as a write-in candidate.

That's for the general election race for the coming two-year term. But above that on the ballot will be a special election for the remaining several weeks.

Sekula-Gibbs is running in that election, too - which her Republican backers hope will help remind voters how to spell her name when they write it in on the general election voting machine.

Four other candidates, including Republican former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, who Lampson defeated to go to Congress in the first place, are running in the special. If no candidate gets a majority, there will be a runoff in December - which could mean the congressional term might be just two or three weeks, and Congress will probably be in recess.

Lampson decided to pass up the special election. He decided it would be too confusing.

"We're keeping everything simple," Lampson said. "Vote once for Nick Lampson, and you're done."

Reach McNeely at dmcneely@austin. rr.com or (512) 458-2963.