Even though the Associated Press called the Senate race between Sen. Bob Casey and Republican nominee David McCormick in favor of McCormick, it is clear that the race still has a ways to go before anything is official. Many networks have refused to make a decision about the race, and even the AP has said that there are still an estimated 109 thousand ballots left to be counted.
“Each day, counties across the Commonwealth are confirming there are more ballots that need to be counted,” said Casey spokesperson Maddy McDaniel in an update. “We know there are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted including tens of thousands of provisional ballots in counties favorable to Senator Casey, and the McCormick campaign has acknowledged these provisional ballots could impact the outcome of the election while pursuing unsuccessful lawsuits to get them thrown out. Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and as state officials have made clear, counties across Pennsylvania need more time to tabulate remaining votes.”
According to the campaign and X posts by different counties, there are an estimated 20,00 provisional ballots in Philadelphia County that need to be counted, 12,680 provisional ballots left in Allegheny County and 6,500 provisional ballots yet to be counted in Montgomery County. Both Chester County and Bucks County still have thousands of provisional ballots left, but also a number of military and overseas ballots. Chester County has more than 1,800 of these ballots, while Bucks has up to three thousand. Montgomery County also has around 2,500 military and overseas ballots that need to be counted.
The McCormick campaign filed two lawsuits late Thursday night against the Philadelphia County Board of elections, one of which asked for the approximately 20 thousand ballots to be sequestered due to the ruling of Genser vs Butler County in the PA Supreme Court. In that case, the court upheld a decision made by the Commonwealth Court that stated ballots with mistakes on them, such as missing dates and signatures, can still be counted. The second lawsuit was to request an increase in the number of Republican observers for the provisional ballots.
Due to the decision in the Genser case, the McCormick Campaign has asked that the ballots be sequestered, “pending action from the U.S. Supreme Court, or, in the alternative, that a global challenge be permitted as to all such ballots.” On Friday, a judge in the Court of Common Pleas threw out the case about the observers. Shortly after, the McCormick campaign withdrew the lawsuit about the provisional ballots.
When McCormick was asked about the case on the provisional ballots, he talked about the second case dealing with more Republican observers. When asked again if he was seeking to reject ballots, McCormick responded “no.” When told by a reporter that a judge denied the request, McCormick said, “I’m not aware of that.” Then, offstage, someone presumably working with the McCormick campaign yelled, “We are not taking any more questions about this nonsense. If you want to ask about what he is going to do as a senator, that’s fine. But we are not taking any more about whatever this is.”
