PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mehmet Oz leads David McCormick in the Republican Senate primary by about 1,100 votes, which is less than 0.1% and well within the range that would trigger an automatic recount.
Based on a comparison of vote totals to Republican ballots returned and information received from counties throughout the afternoon, the Pennsylvania Department of State estimates there are about 8,700 Republican absentee and mail-in ballots to be counted from Tuesday’s primary election. Under Pennsylvania Election Code, the deadline for counties to report unofficial results for statewide offices is 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 24, 2022.
In Pennsylvania, any statewide race that is decided by less than one-half of a percent automatically triggers a recount, unless the losing candidate declines it. It looks like any margin slimmer than about 6,800 votes will trigger Pennsylvania’s mandatory recount.
Most counties in Pennsylvania have the bulk of their ballots counted. Lancaster County had to re-create about about 16,000 ballots by hand because of a printing error. Allegheny County’s results have been delayed, because some precincts didn’t immediately report.
Most counties are now working through ballots that need more attention — for example, a mail-in ballot with a questionable date.
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The suburban Philadelphia counties haven’t started counting provisional ballots yet. They plan to start Friday. These require more work, as each one has to be checked and verified.
The most recent mandatory recount was in November, for a Commonwealth Court race, whose outcome wasn’t known until three weeks after the election. If that’s the case here, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate might not be known, hypothetically, until around June 7.
Republican campaign consultant Christopher Nicholas says both campaigns have the wherewithal to manage both the backward-looking recount and the forward-looking general election campaign.
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Whether the winner is Oz or McCormick, he will likely be able to establish himself as the more mainstream candidate against Democrat John Fetterman.
As for possible strategies from the Fetterman campaign, Muhlenberg pollster and political science professor Chris Borick expects Fetterman to continue to play up his Pennsylvania roots, painting his opponent as an outsider.
“Oz is, you know, kind of all-aboard-MAGA. McCormick certainly has tried to embrace the former president too but I think maybe the attacks come more on his engagement as a hedge fund manager relations with China, outsourcing jobs, those types of claims.”
Former President Donald Trump said his endorsed candidate, Mehmet Oz, should just claim victory, but some military and overseas ballots aren’t in yet. They are due next Tuesday, one week after Election Day.
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