PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania Department of State has announced a recount in the state’s Republican U.S. Senate primary, as the top two vote-getters are within less than 1,000 votes of each other.
Mehmet Oz's current vote margin over David McCormick stands as 0.07%, within the 0.5% margin that triggers a mandatory recount under state law.
The state said that the following were the unofficial results Wednesday between the top two candidates:
– Oz: 419,365 (31.21%).
– McCormick: 418,463 (31.14%).
Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman announced the recall Wednesday."
“I’m required by the election code to order all county boards of elections to conduct a recount of the race," said Chapman.
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Counties may begin their recount as early as Friday but must begin no later than June 1. They must complete the recount by noon on June 7, and they must submit the recount results to the Department of State by noon on June 8.
The state estimates the recount will cost more than $1 million in government funds.
The winner will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November’s midterm elections in what Democrats see as their best opportunity to pick up a seat in the closely divided Senate. The incumbent, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, is retiring after serving two terms.
The mandatory recount was put in place in 2004. This is the seventh time it has been triggered.
Three of those recounts went forward, but the results didn’t change. In the other previous three recounts, the trailing candidates waived their rights for a recount.
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Delaware County Director of Election Operations Jim Allen said they just went through the recount process in November, which was good practice.
“For many of the jurisdictions around the state, this last fall was their first recount on newer voting equipment,” said Allen.
“Everybody got a good taste of what to expect and, and how to plan and how to run the operation."
Counties are still working through provisional, overseas, and military ballots.
Election recount comes amidst legal challenge about undated mail-in ballots
There is a court challenge over whether mail-in ballots with no handwritten dates on the envelope should be counted.
Typically Commonwealth Court would make a ruling on such a case, and then that decision could be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
However, David McCormick is asking the state Supreme Court to weigh in now, saying a decision should be made in a timely manner to make sure all votes are properly counted.
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McCormick argues that the state Supreme Court and a federal court have both ruled ballots without dates should be counted, as the date stamped by a county election management office shows the ballot was received in time and a written date is essentially meaningless.
McCormick points to a recent federal court ruling that says not counting those votes because of a missing date is a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
But the Republican National Committee has chimed in. RNC National Spokesman Paris Dennard said while they’re not picking a candidate, they are being consistent in arguing election laws as they are written should be followed.
“You capitulate right now, and guess what the Democrats are going to do in a couple of months. They'll do it right back to us when and if they don't like the results of an election,” said Dennard.
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There has not been an official number of total ballots that are affected. The McCormick campaign says it’s likely in the thousands.
Philadelphia still hasn’t finished its initial count of ballots cast last week. The city commissioners voted to include mail-in ballots, even if the voter hadn’t indicated the date on which it was cast.
Philadelphia Commission Chair Lisa Deeley said including them in the count is a “no-brainer.”
“There’s no question that the voter voted them. There’s no question that we got the ballot back within the appropriate time. We verified the voter’s ability to be a voter. There’s not one reason we shouldn’t have been counting these all along,” Deeley said.
Deeley added there are about two-thousand undated ballots, but only about 100 of them are from Republicans, so it’s unclear what impact they could have on the Oz-McCormick race.
The commissioners are still deciding the most efficient way to conduct the recount.
Chapman said he knows of more than 850 Republican ballots with no handwritten dates.
The state is instructing counties to count those ballots, but keep them separate pending a ruling in the case.
“While Democrats are unified behind John Fetterman, the country’s nastiest, messiest Republican primary is continuing. This recount will only lead to more infighting and chaos between these candidates, and further weaken whichever GOP candidate manages to limp out of their drawn-out intra-party fight," said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Jack Doyle in a statement.
Stay with KYW Newsradio on-air and online for more details on this breaking story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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