All but 30 ballots counted in Allegheny County as statewide recount in U.S. Senate race looms

Allegheny County election officials as of Wednesday had counted all but 30 challenged provisional ballots cast in last week’s primary, and hearings will be held Friday to determine whether the remaining ballots should be counted.

Nearly 1,750 provisional ballots were scanned and tallied Tuesday and Wednesday, ultimately adding 103 votes for Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick and 71 for one of his opponents, Dr. Mehmet Oz.

A provisional ballot is cast at a polling place, recording a person’s vote, while election officials determine whether it should be counted. Voters may be issued a provisional ballot if they go to the wrong polling place, fail to show identification when asked or they returned an absentee or mail-in ballot that was rejected but believe they are eligible to vote, among other reasons.

With the provisional ballots counted Tuesday and Wednesday, McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, and Oz, a celebrity surgeon, remained locked in a tight U.S. Senate race, with 902 votes separating them. The slim margin has triggered an automatic recount.

Also on Wednesday, counties across the state began processing and counting ballots from military members and residents who are overseas. In Allegheny County, those ballots added 13 votes for McCormick and two for Oz.

County spokeswoman Amie Downs said 19 other military and overseas ballots would not scan and will need to be recreated. She said only one of the 19 is a Republican vote, but is not for McCormick or Oz.

One provisional ballot that will be partially counted still needs to be checked against the voter list where that voter is registered. It is a Democratic ballot, Downs said.

An automatic statewide recount was triggered Wednesday with less than half a percentage point separating Oz and McCormick with unofficial results in from all 67 counties, according to the Department of State.

It is the seventh time an automatic recount has been triggered since the legislation was passed in 2004. In three instances, the second-place finisher waived the recount. In three other instances, the recount affirmed the initial results.

The Department of State estimates this recount will cost Pennsylvania taxpayers around $1 million. The recount can begin as early as Wednesday, officials said.

On Friday, Allegheny County elections officials will begin hearing challenges to 30 provisional ballots that were levied by the campaigns for Oz or McCormick. There previously had been 31 challenged votes, but the campaigns dropped their challenge to one of the ballots, Downs said.