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PA GOP Senate Candidate McCormick Asks For Hand Recount In 12 Counties

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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 taken another turn.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, is leading former hedge fund CEO David McCormick by just over 900 votes.

Now, McCormick’s campaign has announced the candidate is asking for a hand recount in a dozen Pennsylvania counties.

“It’s been two weeks since Election Day, and we still don’t have a full vote count,” a senior McCormick campaign official told reporters.

“McCormick trails rival Dr. Mehmet Oz by just over 900 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast. Oz’s extremely narrow lead is well within the 0.5% threshold for an automatic recount of the results, which was ordered by state officials last week. Some counties have already begun the mandated machine recount, and all must start no later than Wednesday. Counties must conclude their tabulations by noon on June 7 and submit their recount results by noon the next day,” Fox News reported.

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A McCormick senior campaign official said: “We’re doing a recount of a count that I actually don’t know the results of… We have essentially two different sources of data. One being the counties. Two being the Department of State, with completely different [results].”

The official added, “We’re going to ask today for a hand recount of 12 different counties to get a complete sense of the delta between what the counties are providing our campaign and what the Department of State [is providing]… We have between 15-20 thousand vote discrepancy between the ballots cast and the ballots counted.”

“We’re going to understand with a hand recount where any abnormalities exist and actually have a receipt that we can trust and verify,” the official continued.

Last week, Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman announced the state will conduct a recount of the GOP primary race.

“The race is close enough to trigger Pennsylvania’s automatic recount law, with the separation between the candidates inside the law’s 0.5% margin. The Associated Press will not declare a winner in the race until the recount is complete. That could take until June 8,” the Associated Press reported.

“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 report added.

The race is to fill the seat of GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who is retiring after two terms in the Senate.

McCormick filed a lawsuit last week 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.

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“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.”

McCormick’s campaign argues the lawsuit presents a minimal risk because the goal is to ensure all Republican ballots are counted.

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“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.

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