Sen. Jeff Wentworth will serve as the master of discovery for the challenge to Sen. Mario Gallegos' election.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst appointed the San Antonio Republican to supervise discovery proceedings and to take depositions and gather evidence on whether Houston Sen. Mario Gallegos should be allowed to begin another term in January.

Write-in candidate Susan Delgado charges that Gallegos, victorious at the polls, doesn't live in the 6th Senate District and shouldn't be allowed to serve.

Wentworth, who can recommend to a Senate panel whether the challenge should be dismissed as frivolous, said he will act in "an even-handed fair way."

Doug Ray, Gallegos' Austin lawyer, noted that state law does not list residency among reasons that a candidate can contest an election with the Senate.

He also said Gallegos has lived with his mother in the district since 1989 or so, though he owns a house outside the district that is home to his daughter and grandson.