Pennsylvania courts get lawsuits over ballot-counting in Senate contest headed toward a recount
Republicans are going to court in Pennsylvania amid vote counting in the U.S. Senate election between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick, with the contest headed toward a state-mandated recount
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans went to court in Pennsylvania on Thursday amid vote counting in the U.S. Senate election between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick, as the campaigns prepare for a recount and press counties for favorable ballot-counting decisions.
The lawsuits ask courts not to allow counties to count mail-in ballots where the voter didn’t write a date on the return envelope — as required by law — or wrote an incorrect date. The GOP suits could be among many before the last vote in the Senate race is counted, especially with the contest headed toward a state-mandated recount.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last week, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead.
As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 24,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million ballots counted — inside the 0.5% margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania law.
