Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced on Nov. 13 that unofficial results in the PA Senate race have triggered a statewide recount. The announcement came as total votes for incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, and Republican candidate Dave McCormick, are within a 0.5% margin, which initiates a recount under state law.
Figures from NBC News on Nov. 17 had Casey trailing McCormick by just over 17,000 votes, meaning that McCormick has a 0.2% advantage over his opponent.
According to Schmidt’s announcement, counties must begin their recount by Nov. 20, finish by noon on Nov. 26 and must report their results to the secretary of the commonwealth by noon on Nov. 27. In a live streamed press conference, Schmidt discussed more details on the recount, explaining that counties should begin their recount as soon as they finish counting all votes for the first time. Schmidt also said that counties will be using “a different method or different equipment to tabulate the results” than they had used in the initial tally.
Allies of President-elect Donald Trump have made claims that Sen. Casey is attempting to steal the Senate election, drawing parallels between Trump’s own efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and Casey’s decision of not conceding his reelection bid. Like Casey, Trump has not conceded his loss in the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and ads placed by the right-wing Fair Election Fund, a political action committee, have called upon Casey to concede using the senator’s own words from 2020 calling on Trump to do the same.
However, despite not conceding, Casey has not denied the legitimacy of the election’s results. Rather, he is arguing that every vote in the state should be counted, and outstanding votes could change the course of the election, even as his chances of reelection look increasingly less likely.
When asked at a press conference on Nov. 14 if there are enough votes for him to overtake McCormick’s lead, Casey replied: “I don’t know. I just want to make sure we count every vote.”
On the other hand, McCormick’s team appears to be unconcerned about the prospect of a recount. McCormick’s spokesperson Elizabeth Gregory said in a statement to CBS that, “Senator-elect McCormick’s lead is insurmountable, which the AP made clear in calling the race. A recount will be a waste of time and taxpayer money, but it is Senator Casey’s prerogative. Senator-elect McCormick knows what it’s like to lose an election and is sure Senator Casey will eventually reach the right conclusion.”
In past elections where Casey won handily, his campaign and state Democrats had appeared before local election boards in Pennsylvania fighting for provisional ballots to be counted.. Provisional ballots are usually issued when there is an error or missing information on the ballot itself or at the time of voting, such as reporting to the wrong precinct, failing to show ID, or having an absentee or mail-in ballot rejected. This is a standard process in elections but has garnered attention as this Senate race remains very close. While Casey’s campaign has been fighting to have as many ballots as possible counted, it is now up to local election boards and courts to decide which ballots to include.
