Just to give you an update on what’s going on in the Pennsylvania GOP primary race for U.S. Senate, David McCormick’s lawyers were in court today arguing that 800 or so mail-in ballots that were received by the deadline but were missing a handwritten date on the envelope should be counted:
With the recount underway in Republican #PASEN primary between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick, lawyers for both are arguing in #Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court today about whether 800+ undated mail ballots should be counted.
I’ll have more coming at noon on @WGAL. #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/CDOJxL0VOo
— Tom Lehman (@TomLehmanWGAL) May 31, 2022
From WGAL’s Tom Lehman:
“McCormick’s camp has essentially argued recent court decisions outside of the #PASEN race have shown the date requirement isn’t necessary to determine if a #Pennsylvania mail ballot is legal.”
In regards to what’s being argued today:
McCormick’s camp has essentially argued recent court decisions outside of the #PASEN race have shown the date requirement isn’t necessary to determine if a #Pennsylvania mail ballot is legal.
cont…
— Tom Lehman (@TomLehmanWGAL) May 31, 2022
And:
“McCormick’s lawyers have also argued that the court needs to intervene and ensure that all counties are counting those ballots in the #PASEN primary and follow latest guidance from Acting Secretary for PA Dept. of State.”
McCormick’s lawyers have also argued that the court needs to intervene and ensure that all counties are counting those ballots in the #PASEN primary and follow latest guidance from Acting Secretary for PA Dept. of State.
cont…
— Tom Lehman (@TomLehmanWGAL) May 31, 2022
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The state is siding with McCormick:
A lawyer for acting state dept. secretary sided with McCormick’s camp in saying the ballots are legal and should be counted.
Oz’s campaign has argued the court shouldn’t intervene.
Cont…
— Tom Lehman (@TomLehmanWGAL) May 31, 2022
But election officials also admitted that they have no idea how many votes — the initial tally, mind you — have been counted so far and this is just because of “normal vote reporting + [the] undated ballot issue”:
How many votes have been counted for Mehmet Oz and David McCormick in the initial count (not recount)?
We actually don’t know.
Yes, the state and AP have numbers. No, they’re not exactly right.
Why? Normal vote reporting issues + undated ballot issue:https://t.co/MeBr1TONze
— Jonathan Lai 🙊 賴柏羽 (@Elaijuh) May 31, 2022
Gulp. Imagine the 2024 election playing out like the 2000 election but instead of Florida the one state to decide the presidency is Pennsylvania and election officials say:
“‘We are only as good as the data that is being uploaded,’ PA Dept of State spokesperson Grace Griffaton said Friday. ‘The information we can provide Pennsylvanians is the information being provided by the counties.'”
“We are only as good as the data that is being uploaded,” PA Dept of State spokesperson Grace Griffaton said Friday. “The information we can provide Pennsylvanians is the information being provided by the counties.”
— Jonathan Lai 🙊 賴柏羽 (@Elaijuh) May 31, 2022
Even worse? The counties have different standards:
Some counties (e.g. Philly) are including undated mail ballots when they report their totals. Others (e.g. Delco) aren’t.
There are two “right” statewide numbers: total including or excluding undated ballots.
The current totals are a mix of both — and thus not exactly correct.
— Jonathan Lai 🙊 賴柏羽 (@Elaijuh) May 31, 2022
McCormick’s campaign is now asking for a hand recount of 12 counties because of these discrepancies:
Dave McCormick's campaign is petitioning a court today to asking for a hand recount of 12 Pennsylvania counties, citing discrepancies.#PASEN
— David Catanese (@davecatanese) May 31, 2022
The primary was on May 17, so, again, think of this timeline in 2024 and not knowing who won the presidency two weeks after the election:
NEW: "We're going to ask today for a hand recount of 12 different counties to get a sense of the delta between what the counties are providing our campaign and the department of state," per a senior McCormick campaign official.#PASEN
— Alex Miller (@AlexMillerNews) May 31, 2022
Both parties should be in a panic over this:
"We dropped from 33,000 absentee ballots outstanding to 17,000 overnight and there were only 1,100 votes added to the Department of State election site," McCormick campaign official says.#PASEN
— David Catanese (@davecatanese) May 31, 2022
Double gulp.
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