HARRISBURG, Pa. - The close margin of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race between incumbent Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick has triggered a statewide recount.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced the recount late Wednesday afternoon, based on results that remain unofficial from the Nov. 5 general election.
Casey, D-Pa., and McCormick have vote totals within the one-half of 1 percent margin that triggers a mandatory recount under state law.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last Thursday.
As of Wednesday, the unofficial returns for the U.S. Senate race submitted by all 67 counties show the following results:
- Robert P. Casey Jr. – 3,350,972 (48.50%)
- David H. McCormick – 3,380,310 (48.93%)
McCormick has just more than 29,000 votes over Casey with more than 6.7 million ballots counted, according to unofficial returns.
By Wednesday afternoon, county election officials reported there are 60,366 uncounted provisional ballots and 20,155 uncounted mail-in and absentee ballots.
That 80,521 total includes all ballots for which county boards of elections have not yet made a final resolution regarding their validity or eligibility to be counted.
Results remain unofficial, but as of Wednesday afternoon David McCormick had over 29,000 votes more than Casey out of more than 6.7 million ballots cast. That's with 60,366 uncounted provisional ballots and 20,155 uncounted mail-in and absentee ballots left to go.
Once counties finish counting their ballots, they must begin the recount no later than Wednesday, Nov. 20. They must complete the recount by noon on Nov. 26 and must report results to Schmidt by noon on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
The Department of State estimates that the recount cost will exceed $1 million of taxpayer funds.
This is the eighth time the automatic recount provision has been triggered since the passage of Act 97 of 2004. In the four cases in which the recount was carried out, the initial results of the election were affirmed.
Pennsylvania's election returns page reflects the unofficial totals that counties have reported. These numbers will change beginning Thursday morning, Nov. 14, as counties continue to canvass provisional ballots and otherwise count ballots.
Those changes will be unrelated to the recount, according to the state.
