Undated Ballots and Unregistered Voters? What’s Behind Recount in Pennsylvania Senate Race 

Republicans accuse Democrats of not accepting the results of the Senate election in Pennsylvania, but trying to steal it instead from GOP challenger Dave McCormick and hand it to incumbent Democrat Bob Casey Jr.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and officials in  his administration insisted before and on Election Day that the state would have secure and fair elections. 

After the election, though, as a recount of the Senate race unfolds, the Casey campaign—declared the loser by most news organizations—alleges that McCormick and the Republicans want to “disenfranchise” voters. 

Casey supporters also claim that McCormick—declared the winner by most media outlets—is trying to “silence Pennsylvanians.”

The McCormick campaign and other Republicans have challenged the legitimacy of mail-in and provisional ballots in the election. Meanwhile, the Casey campaign and other Democrats have argued against disqualifying ballots from those not listed on voter rolls. 

Before the election, the general consensus was that the Keystone State and its 19 electoral votes provided the key to the presidential election. 

That wasn’t the case, however, as former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, swept all seven battleground states Nov. 5 to win the popular vote as well as a total of 312 electoral votes to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats’ nominee. 

But the Senate race in Pennsylvania came down to the wire. Decision Desk HQ formally called the race Thursday for McCormick. The Associated Press had called the race for McCormick the previous Friday, Nov. 8. 

That outcome, if it holds, would give Republicans a 53-seat majority in the Senate. But it won’t be a certainty until the day before Thanksgiving. 

Here are six things to know about the Pennsylvania recount. 

1. What’s Happening With Undated or Improperly Dated Ballots?

The key question in the recount for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania is what votes are subject to the recount. 

In a win Thursday for the Casey campaign, Bucks County voted to count ballots that weren’t dated or were improperly dated under state law. 

On Nov. 1, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that mail-in ballots must be dated to count in the Nov. 5 election. However, Democratic officials in some counties now are seeking to count undated or incorrectly dated ballots. 

Without a date on a ballot, it’s not clear whether it was cast on or before Election Day. Arguing Thursday morning before the state Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Republican Party opposed counting undated ballots. 

“While Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick currently holds an insurmountable lead of nearly 30,000 votes over his Democrat opponent Bob Casey, numerous County Boards of Elections including Philadelphia, Bucks, Centre, and potentially others took an impromptu vote to count undated or improperly dated mail-in ballots, in bold defiance of Pennsylvania law and two State Supreme Court orders,” the state’s Republican Party said Thursday in a post on the social media platform X. 

The Republican National Committee joined the state Supreme Court argument and filed a separate lawsuit in Bucks County to halt the counting of undated and improperly dated ballots. 

“Dave McCormick won this election and is already participating in Senate orientation meetings,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said Thursday in a public statement. “Meanwhile, Democrat officials and scam lawyers are aiding and abetting Bob Casey’s shameful attempts to steal back a Senate seat which he lost decisively.” 

“The RNC is filing a motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to ensure that Pennsylvania’s democratic process is not undermined by the inclusion of illegal ballots in the final vote count,” Whatley said. “Pennsylvanians are ready to move forward with Dave McCormick representing them in the Senate as Bob Casey torches whatever legacy he had with these anti-democratic schemes.”

Casey’s campaign manager, Tiernan Donohue, criticized the GOP lawsuits and claimed that a large number of votes could be tossed as a result.

“David McCormick and his allies are trying to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters with litigation designed to throw out large tranches of votes that they’ve admitted in legal filings could impact the outcome of the election,” Donohue said in a public statement. “Sen. Casey wants all Pennsylvanians’ voices to be heard as local county election officials continue to count votes. This democratic process must be allowed to play out to determine the result of this election.”

 2. Will Unregistered Voters Count?

The Casey campaign has challenged the dismissal of provisional ballots and mail-in ballots cast by voters whose names weren’t found on voter registration lists.

Casey’s campaign sent a letter Wednesday to Lackawanna County Solicitor Donald Frederickson to challenge the county’s rejection of some provisional ballots and mail ballots. Lackawanna County includes Scranton, President Joe Biden’s much-mentioned hometown.

The Casey campaign challenges the rejection of voters who were “not on the poll list on Election Day and were subsequently determined by the Board [of Elections] not to be registered,” the letter says. “We are asking the board to undertake several additional steps to confirm the voters’ eligibility.”

The incumbent Democrat’s campaign “challenges the rejection of provisional ballots based solely on the board’s staff’s failure to find voters’ names on registered-voters lists,” the letter adds later. 

“In fact, officials in York County recently discovered that 13% of ballots rejected as ‘not registered’ were done so in error.” 

McCormick campaign manager Matt Gruda posted on X that this was “proof” the Casey campaign wants to count illegal votes. 

Ari Fleisher, first press secretary for President George W. Bush, posted on X:  “Casey’s case for a recount comes down to him trying to convince a court that people who aren’t registered should be allowed to vote. Keep your eyes on this, folks.  This is how D lawyers do it. Good thing Dave’s lead is too big to rig.”

The Daily Signal contacted the Casey campaign about the push to count the votes of unregistered voters. A spokesperson didn’t respond by publication time. 

In a video statement Wednesday, Casey said, “The American democratic process was born in Pennsylvania and that process will play out.”

3. What Assurances Did Pennsylvania Voters Have Pre-Election?

After the election, the Casey campaign accused opponents of large-scale voter disenfranchisement. But before Election Day, Democrats mostly assured the public of a clean and honest election. 

Shapiro, the Democrat governor, dismissed concerns about potential irregularities in a Fox News interview that aired in late October. 

“I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and understand that it is our fellow Pennsylvanians who are running these elections, and we will, again, have a free and fair, safe and secure election,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro was on Harris’ short list of possible running mates before she opted for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

“Pennsylvania’s Nov. 5 election will be free, fair, safe and secure,” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a registered Republican appointed by Shapiro, said a day before the election.

Before the election, Schmidt also  told The New Yorker: “We’re in an environment where anything could be interpreted as being intentional and malicious and seeking to alter the outcome of the election.” 

4. How Costly and How Necessary Is the Recount?

The recount of the Senate election in Pennsylvania will cost taxpayers over $1 million, according to Schmidt’s office. 

Schmidt announced Wednesday that the Senate race between Casey and McCormick was close enough to trigger an automatic recount. 

The current vote tally shows McCormick with 3,380,310 votes, or 48.93% of the total, to Casey’s 3,350,972 votes, or 48.5%. 

Since the difference between the two totals is within one-half of one percentage point, the margin triggers a recount under state law. 

5. When Will We Know the Outcome?

The Pennsylvania counties involved are required to start recounting votes in the Senate race no later than Nov. 20 and must complete their recounts by Nov. 26 at noon. 

The counties must report results to the secretary of state’s office by noon on Nov. 27. By this point, an official winner should be clear.

6. How Frequent Are Recounts in Pennsylvania?

This is the eighth time an automatic recount has been triggered in the state since legislation known as Act 97 was passed in 2004, according to the secretary of state’s office. 

Interestingly, the last time a recount happened was in 2022, when Mehmet Oz narrowly beat McCormick in a Republican primary for Senate. That statewide GOP recount cost $1 million. 

In the general election that followed, Oz lost to Democrat John Fetterman. 

This turn of fortune’s wheel prompted Casey supporters to troll McCormick about it on X. 

One post on X asks: “In 2022, Dave McCormick wanted every vote to be counted. What changed? Now he’s trying to silence voters prematurely. We won’t let him get away with it! Every vote must be counted.”

Another post asserts that “McCormick is trying to silence Pennsylvanians & claim victory prematurely. Not gonna happen.

Every vote must be counted.”

Other recent examples of recounts also came with a big price tag. A recount of a 2021 judicial race for Commonwealth Court cost taxpayers $1.1 million, according to the secretary of state’s office. 

A 2011 recount in a primary for another Commonwealth Court judgeship cost $525,000. In 2009, taxpayers paid $541,698 for a recount of a general election for Superior Court. 

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