The recounters in HD-73 say Doug Miller beat Nathan Macias, but we're hearing several different versions of the margin. It's tight, by all accounts.
We have heard from semi-legitimate folks who are involved that Miller won by 12 votes, 16 votes, 18 votes, and 19 votes. A spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas puts it at 17, but says that might be a "soft" number.
Whatever.
All of the correspondents say Miller's the winner in this round, as he was in the first round. The question now: Will Macias — a Bulverde Republican and the current state representative — go to court to challenge the results?
If he does, it'll be a fight over which ballots were allowed into the count and which ones were not. Legal challenges are relatively rare, but not unheard of: Democrat Ciro Rodriguez, for instance, lost his congressional seat to Henry Cuellar after a primary election count, a recount, and a trial (he won his way back into Congress later).
In this one, Miller won — in the first, unofficial count — by 38 votes. The official count shaved a few off of that, but not enough to get Macias a second term. Miller won a majority in only one of the district's four counties — Gillespie — but that was enough.
