Republican US Senate projected winner Dave McCormick lost his challenge Friday against the Philadelphia Board of Elections and three city commissioners over the adjudication of provisional ballots in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt (R) announced on Thursday that “more than 100,000 ballots, including provisional, military, overseas, and some Election Day votes, were yet to be counted.”
According to WGAL, McCormick asked the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia to allow more Republican observers at provisional board hearings to examine ballots that share common deficiencies, such as “missing signatures on the affidavit, a provisional ballot envelope that lacks a secrecy envelope, or discrepancies where the required signature on the affidavit and the envelope do not match will render the ballot invalid and thus result in the ballot being excluded from the count.”
The suit also reportedly asked the court “to sequester and hold provisional ballots from voters who had requested mail-in or absentee ballots,” per a recent Supreme Court decision.
The Pennsylvania Court rejected McCormick’s lawsuit Friday, ruling that Philadelphia County may continue its examination of provisional ballots with the current number of Republican representatives.
“A big win for Philly voters and team Casey. A loss for the GOP voter suppression machine,” crowed Harris Campaign attorney Marc Elias on X.
McCormick currently leads incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey by a razor-thin margin: 48.97 percent to 48.47 percent, with over 98 percent precincts reporting. The AP projected McCormick as the winner on Thursday, but Casey has not conceded because there are still thousands of ballots to be counted, including 15,000 to 20,000 provisional ballots in Philadelphia.
McCormick is currently leading by 34,661 votes.
During a news conference Friday morning, McCormick said: “If you look at all the math, the reason the AP called it is, there’s no path for Senator Casey overcoming my lead, which is more than 32,000 votes. But there are ballots that will continue to be counted. And that lawsuit’s just to make sure that there is an adequate number of observers that are overseeing the counting process.”
Some Republicans are now taunting Casey as “an election denier” on social media.
“Old enough to remember in March when Bob Casey bizarrely accused Dave McCormick of ‘hanging out with election deniers,’ GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted on Twitter. “Now he is one.”
The election analysts at Decision Desk HQ posted on X Friday morning that they expect to see McCormick’s “lead to grow” as Cambria County votes are counted.
Conservative pollster Rich Baris also asserted on X that about half of the provisional ballots in the Keystone State will probably fail verification.
“Provisionals counted in Bucks actually increased leads for Trump and McCormick,” Baris added. “They are more [Republican] this year.”
I can comfortably predict that Bob Casey will win PA. Why do these last minute “ballots” always push the Democrat over the finish line?
Statistically, that is impossible. Yet it continues to happen time and time again–with the approval of very partisan judges.