OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Republican primary race for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat has still not been called.
The race is to fill the seat of GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who is retiring after two terms in the Senate. While we may be heading towards a recount, one Republican has filed a lawsuit over mail-in ballots.
“U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick has filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania court to compel the counting of Republican mail-in ballots submitted without a handwritten date on the outside envelope in a bid to close the gap with primary opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“The lawsuit, filed late Monday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, asks the state to force all 67 counties’ boards of elections to count Republican mail-in ballots received on time but without a handwritten date on the outside envelope, as mandated by the statute. McCormick campaign lawyers are basing their case on a fresh decision by a federal appellate court that ruled such ballots should be counted in a dispute over a Pennsylvania election in 2021,” the Examiner continued.
“Both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit have held that mail-in ballots should not be disqualified simply because the voters failed to handwrite a date on the exterior mailing envelope of their ballots,” McCormick campaign Chief Legal Counsel Chuck Cooper said.
“Because all ballots are time-stamped by the County Boards of Elections on receipt, a voter’s handwritten date is meaningless,” he added. “All timely ballots of qualified Republican voters should be counted.”
“Oz led McCormick by .08 percentage points with most precincts reporting as ballots continued to be counted six days after the primary election. But McCormick says that he believes he won the nomination and insists he will overtake Oz once the remaining Republican mail-in ballots are tallied. With some Election Day votes and a sizable number of mail-in ballots and overseas military ballots left to count, McCormick’s claims are viable,” the Examiner reported.
* Per the PA Dept of State, up to 5,400 mail-in ballots, but "it is likely that the estimates include rejected ballots that have not yet been recorded"
* Appx. 200 military/overseas ballots to be counted Wed.
* Appx. 800 provisionals, which so far have split 154-154 Oz/McCormick— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) May 23, 2022
And here, per @DavidMDrucker, is the McCormick campaign filing suit to count the mail-ins that aren't dated. As of now, the state hasn't issues guidance to counties on how to handle these ballots: https://t.co/dW4i7nxPbI
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) May 23, 2022
As Oz & McCormick “geared up for a bruising legal fight, they did not attack the legitimacy of the votes or the process of counting them, a dramatic contrast to the way Trump and his allies smeared the process in 2020.” https://t.co/n0asB5PU1W
— Amy Walter (@amyewalter) May 23, 2022
McCormick’s campaign argues the lawsuit presents a minimal risk because the goal is to ensure all Republica ballots are counted.
“Every Republican primary vote should be counted, including the votes of Pennsylvania’s active-duty military members who risk their lives to defend our constitutional right to vote. When every Republican vote is counted, Dave looks forward to uniting the party and defeating socialist John Fetterman in the fall,” said McCormick campaign spokeswoman Jess Szymanski.
The Oz campaign dismissed McCormick’s lawsuit, saying mail-in ballots would not change the outcome of the election.
“David McCormick has been a formidable opponent, but it is becoming obvious that he is likely going to come up short to Dr. Mehmet Oz. Unfortunately, the McCormick legal team is following the Democrats’ playbook, a tactic that could have long-term harmful consequences for elections in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Oz campaign manager Casey Contres said.
Reports last Tuesday also alleged an election “glitch” caused an issue for thousands of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania.
“An error by a company that prints ballots for several Pennsylvania counties made thousands of mail-in ballots unreadable Tuesday as voters were deciding hotly contested primaries for governor and U.S. Senate in one of the nation’s most important battleground states,” PBS reported.
