Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced Wednesday the margin between U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Dave McCormick is so narrow — within 0.5 percent — that a mandatory recount has been triggered under state law.
“This is the eighth time the automatic recount provision has been triggered since the passage of Act 97 of 2004,” Schmidt’s office reported, and the second to involve McCormick. He narrowly lost the GOP U.S. Senate primary to Mehmet Oz two years ago.
Meanwhile, the Casey campaign is accusing McCormick of trying to use a Pennsylvania court ruling to disenfranchise voters. But that ruling didn’t apply to the last Tuesday’s general election.
At issue is a 3-2 ruling made Oct. 30 by the Commonwealth Court that said 69 undated and incorrectly dated absentee and mail-in ballots in a Philadelphia special election should have been counted.
The Philadelphia County Board of Elections initially ruled the ballots were ineligible. When a trial court overruled the Elections Board, state and national Republicans appealed.
One day later, the state Supreme Court said the ruling was “stayed and shall not be applied” to this year’s General Election.
A furious Justice Kevin M. Dougherty heaped scorn on the lower court in a concurring opinion. He accused Commonwealth Court judges of changing the electoral game “on the very eve of the election.” Dougherty noted mail ballots had been shipped and returned and voters, boards of elections, and election workers were already advised on “the handling of undated and misdated ballots.”
Justice Christine Donohue wrote a more muted concurrence that Chief Justice Debra Todd joined. It criticized the lower court for “disturbing the status quo” because county boards of election could use it in surveying mail-in ballots.
All three judges are Democrats.
Despite not applying to ballots cast last Tuesday, the ruling became a flashpoint in the battle between Casey and McCormick as counties prepared to count provisional ballots. It could be due to a Pittsburgh Tribune story that seemed to tie the provisional ballot ruling with the Casey-McCormick race.
Casey campaign manager Tiernan Donohue accused McCormick of looking to block “large tranches of votes” while Casey wants them to be counted. She said the “democratic process must be allowed to play out to determine the result of this election.”
Republican election attorney Linda Kerns said Democrats are misinterpreting the Commonwealth Court ruling because it only applied to the September special election.
“The Trial court allowed the counting of undated mail ballots just from that election. The Commonwealth Court affirmed,” she told DVJournal.
McCormick leads Casey by less than half a percentage point. He’s declared victory but a recount is pending. The Associated Press also called the race for McCormick.
McCormick is currently in Washington for Senate orientation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was hesitant to invite McCormick to that orientation, but eventually relented after Republicans complained.
Casey has yet to concede. His campaign and national Democrats promise there’s still a chance he’ll win.
Notorious Democrat lawyer Marc E. Elias, one of the people behind the discredited “Steele Dossier,” is in the Keystone State canvassing ballots.
A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee communications strategist suggested McCormick doesn’t believe he’ll win and cited the state Supreme Court case and a separate suit in Philadelphia over GOP representation during provisional ballot reviews. That suit was withdrawn.
A Casey strategist later posted on social media, “Campaigns don’t try to disenfranchise voters when they think a race is over.”
Fellow Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Mark Kelly of Arizona also lent support to Casey. The two demanded all votes be counted before a winner is declared.
While ballots in Philadelphia have been counted, there are still pending ballots in the Delaware Valley. Montgomery County has 6,500 ballots to examine while Chester County has several dozen. Delaware Count has 4,560 provisional ballots. Bucks County did not respond to DVJournal’s request for provisional ballot totals.
The McCormick campaign and other Republicans remain confident.
“It’s over, as always. (I feel like a broken record),” wrote McCormick political strategist Mark Harris on X.
Kerns said there aren’t enough remaining ballots to change the outcome of the race.
“Casey has no path to victory.”
