More than 200 undated ballots in Allegheny County to be counted but kept separate, state says

The more than 200 mail-in ballots returned in Allegheny County that do not have a date on the outer declaration envelope should be tallied but kept separate from the overall vote totals, the Department of State has decided.

What began as 218 votes was whittled down to 206 as the county elections return board went through the Tuesday morning. Ten were not in security envelopes — three Republican ballots and seven Democrat ballots — and two were from the April special election.

Those votes are among the ones at the center of a lawsuit filed late Monday by U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who remains locked in a tight primary race against the Donald Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“The Department of State has directed that absentee and mail-in ballots that do not contain a date on the declaration envelope should be canvassed and the votes on those ballots should be tabulated separately from all other absentee and mail-in ballots,” Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said in a Tuesday morning update.

Out of the 206 ballots, 36 were Republican: 17 for McCormick and 10 for Oz. The other nine were for various other candidates.

Downs stressed that those votes will remain separate and not added to the overall results.

It was not clear Tuesday how many mail-in or absentee ballots there were across the state that did not have the handwritten date on the declaration envelope.

Ten representatives from the two campaigns were on hand at the county elections warehouse Tuesday morning, Downs said.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, is asking the state Commonwealth Court to require counties to obey a brand-new federal appeals court decision and promptly count mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the return envelope.

Doing so could help McCormick make up ground against Oz, a celebrity surgeon and television host. Oz has pressed counties not to count those ballots, and the national Republican Party said Monday it would go to court to oppose McCormick.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, Oz led the statewide race by 987 votes.

The Allegheny County elections return board was also making a second round of checks on the provisional ballots that had not been challenged and were recommended for partial counting. That process, Downs said, involves the review of the voter lists from where an individual is registered to vote to make sure they did not vote in person.

A total of 844 provisional ballots were scanned Monday, with 131 Republican ballots and 713 Democrat ballots. Of the Republican ballots, 50 were for McCormick and 30 were for Oz. Twelve challenges were levied against provisional ballots Monday, and Downs said officials “expect additional challenges (Tuesday).”

Indeed, another 19 provisional ballots were challenged, bringing the total to 31 over two days. The Board of Elections will hear the challenges Friday, and voters whose ballots were challenged will be notified.

Downs said 833 provisional ballots, both full and partial, were counted Tuesday. Out of those, 48 were for McCormick and 33 were for Oz.

The returns board will reconvene Wednesday morning, at which point 194 military and overseas ballots will be opened and processed.