Austin mayoral candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido has officially ended her campaign, and her request for a partial recount of November general election results.
Llanes Pulido announced she wouldn't be pursuing a recount Nov. 22. The update came just after the deadline to amend a recount petition she'd filed—and had rejected by the city—on Nov. 21.
"After a long two weeks of changing results, news alerts, dozens of legal opinions, and my own team's cost-benefit analysis of re-examining the results of this incredibly close election tally (barely a dozen votes between us and a runoff), I have decided to lay down the pursuit of a recount and bring a close to my mayoral campaign," she said in a statement.
Llanes Pulido said she'll soon turn her attention back to local organizing efforts after a campaign in which she focused on housing policy, public safety, homelessness and government transparency.
City Council officially canvassed the results of Austin's general election on Nov. 19, cementing incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson as the winner after he narrowly avoided a runoff contest against Llanes Pulido. Watson described the attempted recount as an "election denial effort" after Llanes Pulido petitioned for the process Nov. 21.
Posted Nov. 21 6:14 p.m.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with information about the petition deposit and to correct the timeline for amending the petition.
Citing "irregularities" in the local vote count, Austin mayoral candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido petitioned for a recount of some November general election results in hopes of forcing a potential runoff against incumbent mayor and apparent winner Kirk Watson.
Soon after, Watson's campaign reported the petition was deficient under state law. Llanes Pulido now says she's evaluating her options and may re-submit her request.
What's happening
Llanes Pulido filed her petition just after noon on Nov. 21, less than two hours before the deadline to ask for a recount.
State law requires local recount petitions for elections like Austin's to cover all voting precincts. However, she requested a review of just 11 precincts in Williamson County.
City Clerk Myrna Rios found the petition to be defective Nov. 21 based on that difference, and due to an incorrect deposit paid by Llanes Pulido.
Llanes Pulido said the Texas Secretary of State's legal office had previously informed her "multiple times" that her approach was valid. She said she's reviewing the law and may re-file an amended petition.
“It’s an interesting situation to be in, because we’re asking for a recount from the city incumbent that we’re challenging," she told Community Impact late Nov. 21. "Puts us in an interesting position, but that’s why I’m not backing away until we do our research and confirm that what the Secretary of State’s office told us is incorrect.”
She has until 4 p.m. Nov. 22 to submit a revised petition and deposit for a recount.
Watson, who won the election based on official canvassed results, said he was proud of his wide margin of victory and that the "election denial effort" likely wouldn't lead to a different outcome.
"In this instance, the second place finisher—104,000 votes behind—is doing what we see too much of these days: denial of an election outcome, sewing doubt in our democratic process and creating chaos," he said in a statement. "All this does is cost more money, waste more time, and even if a recount resulted in my falling under [the 50% runoff election threshold] it would likely be by only a few votes."
As a former county election judge, Llanes Pulido said she didn't intend to cast doubt on the integrity of local elections through her filing. However, she said there were "inconsistent" voting numbers reported by Hays and Travis county elections offices and irregularities with the count of mail-in and provisional ballots in Williamson County—some poll watchers were unable to observe the process after receiving conflicting information about timing, she said—leading to her request.
"I feel that I owe it to the voters and all of the people who supported me to make sure that the process was as free and fair as possible," Llanes Pulido said soon after filing her petition. "It’s a difficult process, but I think it’s important to raise the questions publicly and see to it that we can get the best and most accurate count possible.”
How we got here
While she finished second in the November contest by nearly 30%, Llanes Pulido said she hoped a recount could force Watson into a December runoff election.
Runoffs are required if no general election candidate wins a majority of the vote, and Watson narrowly avoided that cutoff with 50.004% of the more than 350,000 ballots cast in the five-person race. The margin was slim enough that Watson didn't declare victory until a week after the election as remaining ballots were counted.
"Sometimes it’s not about the number as much as it is about the process and the quality of the dialogue and the election itself. I think we’re all better off when we ask tough questions and have the conversations that are needed," she said.
Watson said the city's petition review Nov. 21 should close the book on this fall's mayoral race.
"The mayor of Austin should be looking to create stability, especially in a time of instability in other parts of government," he said. "We should put the campaign behind us and get back to work. Hopefully, now that the effort to deny the election has been found defective, we can."
The cost
Llanes Pulido would be on the hook for a recount deposit to the city, and would also have to cover the cost of the entire recount process if conducted and the election outcome didn't change.
The city clerk's office estimated the deposit at $19,400, based on state election code that sets the cost at $100 per Election Day polling location or precinct, plus $100 charge for early voting. Austin's mayoral election included 193 precincts and featured early voting.
A closer look
Llanes Pulido sought a recount only in 11 voting precincts that cover most of Austin's jurisdiction in Williamson County.
In those precincts alone, the county reported Watson had 7,942 votes, candidate Kathie Tovo had 2,483 and Llanes Pulido had 2,415. Candidates Jeffery L. Bowen and Doug Greco finished with 2,267 and 1,060 in those precincts, respectively.
Overall, the city's canvassed mayoral election results made official on Nov. 19 show slightly different totals than the individual results available online through the Hays, Travis and Williamson county election offices. The city wasn't able to provide a county-by-county breakdown of its canvass as of publication time.
