A week has passed since the general election. Today was the deadline for voters who cast provisional ballots to cure whatever discrepancy prevented them from casting a regular ballot. It was also the deadline for military and overseas ballots to arrive in order to be counted. These will be reviewed by the counties’ early voting ballot boards, which are (typically) bipartisan panels appointed to assist the vote-counting process.
After those panels complete their reviews, counties can canvass the returns. These official results will vary from what was posted on Election night because cured provisional votes and later-arriving overseas ballots will have been counted and any tabulation errors will have been corrected.
Counties have until November 20 to report their canvassed results to the Secretary of State.
It is rare that these activities change the outcome of a race, but several we track remain close enough that these additional ballots, or a recount, could potentially flip the result:
- HD66, where Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) leads Sharon Hirsch by 377 votes (0.55%)
- HD108, where Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas) leads Joanna Cattanach by 440 votes (0.57%)
- HD132, where Gina Calanni leads Rep. Mike Schofield (R-Katy) by 97 votes (0.15%)
- HD138, where Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) leads Adam Milasincic by 72 votes (0.15%); and
- CD23, where U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio) leads Gina Ortiz Jones by 1,150 votes (0.55%).
Recounts for these races must be requested within two days of the official state canvass. The Secretary of State has not yet set a canvass date. The latest Gov. Greg Abbott (R) could conduct the state canvass is December 6.
In CD23, a judge denied a motion filed by the Gina Ortiz Jones (D) campaign to extend the deadline to cure provisional ballots in Bexar Co., reported the San Antonio Express-News’s Dylan McGuinness. The motion would have compelled the county election administrator to provide the campaign with the names of provisional voters.
Other candidates have said on social media that they are waiting for all votes to be counted before making statements about the outcomes of their races.
Local News
Copperas Cove: A December 11 runoff has been ordered to settle the mayoral race between Mayor Frank Seffrood (47%) and Azeita Taylor (43%).
Missouri City: A December 8 runoff has been ordered to settle the mayoral race between Mayor Allen Owen (36%) and former council member Yolanda Ford (35%). An at-large council seat will also be on the runoff ballot. Chris Preston (45%) faces Susan Soto (25%) in that race.
Odessa: A city council seat that was headed to a runoff instead ended in a coin toss. Tom Sprawls (49.6%) and Richard Pierce (45%) agreed that whoever lost the coin toss would simply drop out of the race, which would save the city thousands of dollars. Sprawls won and will be sworn in on November 27.
Plainview: The special runoff election for a vacant council seat is Thursday. Former council member Lionel Garcia (38%) faces Evan Weiss (44%), a former zoning commission member who is making his first run for public office.
©2018 Texas Election Source LLC
