The Associated Press has yet to call the Pennsylvania state treasurer race for Republican Stacy Garrity, even though Garrity’s 74,000 vote lead over her Democratic opponent is much larger than Joe Biden’s lead over President Trump.
The AP called the presidential race for Biden at 11:25 a.m. EST on Saturday, November 8.
“The AP called the race for Biden, who held a 34,243-vote lead, after it determined that the remaining ballots left to be counted would not allow Trump to catch up,” the news outlet’s website reported.
“Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatic when the margin between two candidates in a statewide race is less than 0.5 percentage points,” the same report noted. “An AP analysis concluded Biden’s lead over Trump was on track to stay outside of that margin as final votes are counted.”
However, when Garrity declared victory over Democrat Joe Torsella on Tuesday with a 74,000-vote lead, the AP refused to call the race in her favor, noting that “it is not clear if Garrity will finish with a large enough lead to avoid an automatic statewide recount.”
When the AP called the Pennsylvania race for Biden, it reported there were 62,000 mail ballots remaining, and “Biden has won the overwhelming majority of mail ballots cast in the state.”
An analysis by Delaware Valley Journal shows the remaining estimated 62,000 votes believed to be outstanding would have to break 85 percent in Torsella’s favor for the state treasurer’s race to fall inside the automatic recount margin.
Data from the Department of State website shows that Torsella won 71 percent of all mail ballots in the state, Garrity took 25 percent, with the remaining percentage going to other candidates.
Torsella has already conceded.
The AP did not return a request for comment.
