A DJI Neo Drone Over a Voting Line. This Actually Happened.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to fly a campaign drone over voters waiting to cast their ballots in Houston. The drone community gets blamed for a lot. This one we can’t dodge.

The Scene on West Gray Street

It was just after 11 a.m. at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center in Montrose when a DJI Neo appeared above the line of voters waiting outside to vote in the Republican primary, as Yahoo reported.

The drone was carrying a campaign pamphlet for Tina Cohen, a Republican candidate for Texas’s 7th congressional district. It hovered close to the crowd. Election judge Alan Foster said it may have been in the air for roughly an hour before the operator agreed to land it.

When Foster went outside to find the source, he traced it to a man standing on the sidewalk across the street, wearing a Tina Cohen campaign hat. The man called Foster “an old fart” before Foster turned and walked away.

When reached by phone, Cohen said she knew the man and thought it “was cute.” When asked for his name, she hung up.

The Law Is Clear on This

Texas Election Code Section 61.003 is not ambiguous. Electioneering, which includes the posting, use, or distribution of political signs or literature, is a Class C misdemeanor when conducted within 100 feet of an outside door through which voters enter a polling place.

The operator’s defense was that he was standing across the street, technically outside the 100-foot boundary. Foster’s response was direct and it holds up: the drone itself crossed the line. The aircraft was the instrument of electioneering. Where the operator was standing is beside the point.

Texas law also explicitly lists drones among the devices that may not be used to record sound or images within 100 feet of voting stations. The operator wasn’t just politically annoying. He may have been in violation on multiple counts.

No legal action had been confirmed at time of writing.

The Tool: A DJI Neo, Misused

The aircraft identified in the video is the original DJI Neo, not the newer Neo 2. It’s worth knowing what this thing is, because the story is partly in the specs.

The Neo weighs just 135 grams and is priced at $199. It launches from a palm, requires no remote controller, and can fly up to 16 minutes on a single battery. It’s DJI’s most accessible, beginner-friendly drone. Virtually anyone can pick one up at a Best Buy, take it out of the box, and be airborne in under two minutes.

That’s the point. This wasn’t a sophisticated operation. It was an impulsive stunt with a $200 toy that someone weaponized for political theater. And now that $200 toy is in a Houston Chronicle story about election law violations.

The Neo is a great drone. It’s designed for selfies, travel footage, and casual creators. Using it to harass a voting line is like using a kitchen knife to vandalize someone’s car. The tool isn’t the problem.

DroneXL’s Take

I’ll be direct: this is the kind of story that sets the drone community back.

Not because of what the law says. The law is the law and this operator likely broke it. What bothers me is the optics. Every time someone does something this reckless or this performatively stupid with a drone, it hands every anti-drone politician and every anti-drone neighbor the perfect headline.

Here’s the honest part: the drone community has spent years earning credibility with the public. Responsible pilots, DFR programs saving lives, commercial operations, precision agriculture, infrastructure inspection.

And then one guy with a Tina Cohen hat and a $200 palm drone undoes a little bit of that goodwill in 60 seconds over a voter line in Montrose.

Fly smarter than this. The hobby depends on it.

Photo credit: Suarez Media , Youtube.