Recount in HD105

Democratic challenger Bob Romano, the trailing candidate in the exceedingly close HD105 race, has asked for a recount.

Democrat Bob Romano said this afternoon he will ask for a recount in his bid to unseat Republican State Rep. Linda Harper-Brown - a race that came down to 20 votes in the incumbent's favor among more than 40,000 ballots cast.

Ms. Harper-Brown held on in the razor-thin House District 105 race, when a Dallas County ballot board on Monday accepted 61 provisional ballots, despite Republican allegations of impropriety.

Her already tiny lead shrank -- from 34 to 20 votes -- after the provisional and overseas ballots were added to initial returns.

Romano issued the following statement, via the TDP:

"I am proud and humbled that so many voters in our community believe I should be our district's voice in the Texas House. In the coming days, my focus will be on doing everything I can to see that every ballot is counted and that every voter's intent is known. We must respect the voters, and protect the trust they have placed in our democracy. To that end, I intend to request a re-count of the ballots cast in this election."

On the one hand, recounts generally don't alter election results, the 2004 Democratic primary between Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez in CD28 notwithstanding. On the other hand, 20 votes is a vanishingly small margin, and it wouldn't take much to alter the outcome. On the third hand, given the stakes - Harper Brown is a key Craddick ally, one he can't afford to lose right now - and given the Republican complaints about the way provisional ballots were accepted, I cannot imagine Harper Brown accepting a different outcome without challenging the result in the House, a la Talmadge Heflin. Let's just say things would get very, very interesting from there if that came to pass.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 12, 2008 to Election 2008