Carmen Llanes Pulido requests recount in Austin mayoral race, petition 'defective'

Editor's Note: This story has been edited to reflect the 11 precincts are only in Williamson County. The video above shows coverage from when current Austin Mayor Kirk Watson was declared the apparent winner in the Austin mayoral race.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Second-place candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido says she's officially filed a petition to request a recount in the Austin mayoral race in 11 precincts inside Williamson County. But Austin Mayor Kirk Watson says that partial recount request is illegal.

"Given the razor thin margin, and the number of irregularities in this election cycle, it's critical that we ensure every vote is counted and I owe it to all of my supporters and all of the voters in the city of Austin, especially the near 50% that voted for new leadership, to ensure that every vote is counted and our process is as fair and transparent as it can be," Llanes Pulido said.

Mayor Kirk Watson secured more than 50% of the overall vote in the general election -- though barely, less than 20 votes above the threshold for avoiding a runoff. He's still more than 100,000 votes ahead of his nearest competitor.

Watson told KXAN the recount request is "defective," adding state law mandates recounts in an election called by a city must apply to the entire jurisdiction, as opposed to select precincts. He argued recounting a select portion of precincts would result in insufficient information that would impact how accurately the election is called.

"The mayor of Austin should be looking to create stability, especially in a time of instability in other parts of government. 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," Watson said.

Llanes Pulido confirmed that the city marked her petition as defective and said she is reviewing the denial letter and reasonings behind that decision.

"I’m further examining the sections they have cited in the letter and will determine whether we will appeal or re-submit," Llanes Pulido said.

“We recognize the importance of this process and will take the necessary and careful steps as required by the election rules and procedures," a city spokesperson said early in the day Thursday.

Llanes Pulido also said there "could be next steps to this and I am still gathering all the information and appropriate legal counsel to move forward in a way that makes best use of Austinites resources and energy in our quest for more accountable leadership."

What are the rules of a recount?

If a recount were to happen, it would be done only of the votes in the Austin mayoral race, and that count "does not look at the manner in which voters were qualified to vote in person or by mail" nor does it "authorize the requalifying of voters," according to the Texas Secretary of State website on procedures to request and conduct a recount.

Once a recount petition is received, the recount coordinator has 48 hours to review it and notify the petitioner of any issues. If that petition is approved, a recount would have to happen within seven days, or the day after all ballots get delivered to the "general custodian of election records."

Both Llanes Pulido and Watson's elections teams are required to be notified of the time and date of the recount.

Should a future recount find Watson did not secure more than 50% of the overall vote, it would force him into a runoff with Llanes Pulido. That would mean Austin voters would go back to the polls in December to vote between the two candidates.

Does Carmen Llanes Pulido have a shot in a runoff election?

The recount request is a move St. Edward's University political science professor Brian Smith says would be expensive, time consuming and Llanes Pulido would be at a significant disadvantage if a recount results in a runoff election.

"It's not like Mayor Watson was the first of four candidates. No, he was the first of first. He was very close to that 50% -- he's actually a little bit over it," Smith said. "So she would have a lot of ground to gain."

KXAN told you a little more than a month ago that Llanes Pulido’s 30-day campaign finance report showed she only had roughly $5,000 on hand going into the final month of the general election.

State law requires Llanes Pulido to put down a deposit to request a recount. If the outcome of the election doesn’t change, she will be on the hook for the full cost. As for what exactly that could cost, the city requested that KXAN file a public information request for that information, which we did.

"When you look at her cash reserves, she has very little money to spend. So going to a runoff through a recount would be a very expensive proposition, with not a lot of upside when we look at what she has politically tangible right now," Smith said.