Llanes Pulido, who came in second to incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson, is seeking a recount after falling short of the threshold for a runoff election by just 14 votes.
AUSTIN, Texas — The race for Austin’s next mayor may not be settled just yet.
Carmen Llanes Pulido, who came in second place, wants a recount. The latest ballot count shows incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson with just over 50% of the vote, narrowly above the threshold for a runoff election with Llanes Pulido by just 14 votes.
According to vote data, Watson dominated in West Austin while Llanes Pulido gained many of her votes in East Austin.
Llanes Pulido told KVUE that she petitioned for a recount in 11 precincts in Williamson County.
“A number of poll watchers and campaigns, including mine, were led to believe that provisional and mail in votes in Williamson County would be fully processed last Friday in the morning, and then they were actually processed Thursday night when many of the poll watchers had left,” Llanes Pulido said.
But a campaign manager with Watson’s campaign said there is a problem with her recount request.
“Texas law is clear that, in an election that is called by a city – which the mayor’s election is – a recount must be for the entire jurisdiction and not just cherry picking a few precincts,” a statement provided to KVUE by Watson’s campaign reads. “That makes sense because one precinct might have a change in the numbers that would be offset in another precinct. But if the second precinct isn’t included in the recount, there would be incomplete information and the election would be called incorrectly.
“This election denial effort even cherry picks in the one county the candidate looks to for a potential recount and doesn’t even ask for a recount in all of that county’s mayoral election precincts,” the statement concluded.
Llanes Pulido said she disagrees.
“So, we did call the Secretary of State and consulted with their legal office multiple times before submitting this petition,” Llanes Pulido said. “And we’re told that we could actually submit the request just for these 11 precincts.”
How often do the results change based on the recounts? Joshua Blank, a research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said it doesn’t happen often.
“Often, the recounts reaffirm the results, even if the margins change just a little bit,” Blank said. “In this case, the margin is very, very close in terms of how many votes over 50% Watson is.”
Llanes Pulido said she will look at her legal options and see if she should appeal this decision or resubmit with a request for a recount in the entire city. She has until Friday to make her decision.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Llanes Pulido said. “These issues are too important and community is going to continue to push for more accountability however it comes.”
