HARRISBURG, Pa. — The upcoming U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania features a closely contested race between Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick, prompting a statewide recount. As of Wednesday, counties continued their efforts to sort through any remaining ballots, while the respective campaigns debated which ballots should be included in the official tally.
The Associated Press had previously called the race for McCormick, stating that there were insufficient ballots left in the regions where Casey was leading to shift the results in his favor. By midday Wednesday, Casey had let the deadline pass to forfeit his right to a recount, leading Al Schmidt, the Secretary of State and a Republican, to announce that the official preliminary results necessitated an automatic statewide recount, as required by law.
Currently, McCormick maintains a lead of approximately 28,000 votes from over 6.9 million ballots counted, placing him within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic recount according to Pennsylvania regulations. Election officials must initiate the recount no later than November 20 and are required to complete it by noon on November 26. This process mainly involves running the paper ballots through high-speed scanners, although some former election officials caution that any changes in the outcome could be minimal, potentially affecting only a few hundred votes at most.
“This difference is minuscule in the grand scheme of the overall vote totals,” commented Jeff Greenberg, a former elections director in Mercer County.
In the meantime, McCormick has been attending Senate orientation in Washington and participating in caucus meetings to prepare for leadership following the Republicans regaining control of the U.S. Senate after last week’s elections, which saw Donald Trump claim victory in the presidential race.
Despite the unfolding situation, Casey has not conceded defeat. His campaign manager criticized McCormick and his supporters on social media, stating that “McCormick and his allies are attempting to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters.” Adam Bonin, a legal representative for Casey, indicated that the Republican campaign was challenging the provisional ballots of registered Democrats aggressively, which was causing delays in the counting process. “This year’s strategy seems more organized and disciplined compared to what we saw in 2020,” Bonin noted.
Mark Harris, a consultant for McCormick, stated that Democratic-controlled counties are allegedly slowing down the tallying process by not updating the vote totals with the ballots they have processed. He asserted that the McCormick campaign is legally contesting provisional ballots they are entitled to challenge. “This approach feels like a tactic to undermine our advantage,” Harris claimed. “It’s clear that Dave McCormick will take his seat as senator.”
As counties worked diligently on Wednesday to process tens of thousands of provisional ballots, lawyers for both campaigns and party officials addressed challenges on some of these ballots. Provisional ballots are cast on Election Day when the eligibility of the voter needs to be confirmed before they can be included in the final count.
Legal disputes may arise following decisions made by election boards. For example, the Democratic-majority election board in Bucks County decided to accept over 400 mail-in ballots that lacked a correct handwritten date on their outer envelopes, a move that Republicans are contesting in court. This decision echoes various previous rulings in both state and federal courts, which have stated that rejecting these ballots is unconstitutional. However, recent interventions by higher courts, including the state Supreme Court on November 1, have continued to uphold these challenges, indicating ongoing litigation.
