County judge, district attorney recounts maintain results

Recounts in the Hays County District Attorney and County Judge elections upheld the election day results.

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and District Attorney-elect Kelly Higgins both maintained leads in their respective races.

“I’d like to let you know that this is the first time in the history of our state that such a race of such a high quantity of votes had been challenged,” Becerra said at a press conference Wednesday. “The Secretary of State told us they have never seen this before. Almost 90,000 ballots are being copied. Although this process isn’t 100% complete because photocopying 90,000 ballots takes a lot of time. But we have reached the point in time where we are very comfortable to say that there have been two races that have been counted.”

In the Nov. 8 election, Becerra narrowly won reelection for Hays County Judge with 44,517 votes to Republican challenger Mark Jones’ 43,591. Democrat Kelly Higgins was elected Hays County Criminal District Attorney over Republican David Puryear. Higgins received 46,609 votes, while 41,103 Hays County voters cast their ballots for Puryear.

Although official numbers from the recount weren’t released Wednesday, Becerra was confident in the recount effort.

“There has been — the words that I have chosen are — no change in the election outcome,” Becerra said.

Both Republican candidates called for the recount of their respective races.

“The voters of Hays County deserve to know that every election is accurate and error free, regardless of the outcome of my particular race,” Jones said in a Facebook post. Following the recount, he posted, “After reviewing mail in and provisional ballots, we found the votes we needed were simply not there, so we called off the recount.”

Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff served as the recount supervisor for the county judge’s race, while Becerra was the recount supervisor for the DA’s race. Becerra also appointed Anita Collins, executive assistant to the Hays County Judge, as recount chair for the district attorney’s recount.

Collins thanked the Democratic and Republican volunteers who counted the ballots and watched over the recount.

“They are beautiful people who all want the same thing, and that’s a fair election,” Collins said. “I think we’ve come to that conclusion: That we have counted as closely and as accurately as we can by looking at each and every one of those 90,000 ballots.”

Charles Soechting — attorney with the Soechting Law Firm, who represented Higgins — said it was a difficult recount because of the magnitude of size.

“Just look at anywhere in Texas, nothing has happened like this has happened where there’s been a wholesale attack on every ballot that was cast in Hays County,” Soechting said. “Every single ballot was challenged.”

Soechting added that he’d never seen a “more fair recount process run.”

“It was cordial,” Soechting said. “It was instructive. And when people didn’t follow the rules, they were disciplined accordingly.”

Higgins said the recount coming to an end brings closure to the election.

“Now that it is at a point of closure, it’s just time for me to simply say that I am ready to undertake the transition process, assume the duties of the office and begin working for all the residents of Hays County,” Higgins said.

The cost for the county judge’s recount was approximately $4,100, while the district attorney’s recount could cost upward of $40,000, according to Becerra.

With the recount effort ending, Becerra said the process was necessary to verify the election’s results.

“Let’s not get mad at those that asked for it,” Becerra said. “Let’s remain peaceful. Let’s remain hopeful. This is part of the American way of life. This is a patriotic thing to do. Trust, but verify. And, if we don’t find it comforting then that’s a mistake because we have confirmed with a painstaking process that everything our election administration did in the county was absolutely right and it was right on.”