EASTON, Pa. — On the eve of a required recount, Northampton County’s elections commission wrapped up provisional ballot challenges Tuesday night, setting the stage for a court fight later this week.
Over the course of a hearing that began Friday, the county’s election commission voted to count provisional ballots missing certain signatures — a move that Republican officials challenged in the county’s Court of Common Pleas.
Provisional ballots have taken on unusual importance going into a recount of the close race to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick.
Unofficial results show McCormick ahead by less than 17,000 votes, about 0.24% of the votes cast; the Associated Press called the race in his favor. Pennsylvania law requires an automatic recount whenever a race is decided by a margin less than 0.5%.
State rules require a voter submitting a provisional ballot to sign its outer envelope in two places, almost side-by-side. It also requires signatures from the judge of elections and minority inspector at their polling place.
Starting when the hearing began on Friday, a 3-2 majority of the commission voted repeatedly to count ballots missing either one of the voter signatures or one of the poll worker signatures.
“This issue is the subject of litigation in many, many counties across the state. I think we’re already invited to that party,”Gary Asteak
The body approved at least 95 such ballots by the end of the hearing’s first day. More had been approved by the time the proceeding ended Tuesday night.
On Sunday, attorneys for the Republican National Committee, the Pennsylvania Republican Party, and David McCormick’s campaign challenged that decision, arguing that only ballots with all four signatures should be counted.
They have filed similar challenges across the state. The Casey campaign has also asked courts to weigh in on the same issue in some counties, including Lehigh County.
Gary Asteak, appearing on behalf of the state and Northampton County Democratic parties, told the commission that one signature from the voter and one from a required poll worker was enough to get the job done. Voters should not be disenfranchised because of a poll worker’s error, he said.
Still, said Asteak, the final decision will rest with the courts.
“This issue is the subject of litigation in many, many counties across the state. I think we’re already invited to that party,” and voting to count the challenged ballots simply adds them to the ongoing legal fight, he said.
The attorney for the Republicans, Britain Henry, told commissioners that accepting the challenged ballots in spite of state rules amounted to “thumbing your nose here directly at the [state] Supreme Court,” pointing to a recent decision that counties cannot decide to count misdated mail-in ballots.
Elections officials across the state must begin their recount by Wednesday morning, and must submit the results of the recount by Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Each county is required to certify its election results by Nov. 25.
