OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:35 PM – Monday, November 18, 2024
The cost of Pennsylvania’s Senate recount is expected to cost around $1 million in federal funds.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said that statewide recounts are triggered if the votes are within a 0.5% margin.
Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Senate-elect David McCormick (R-Pa.) were separated by 0.43%, with a maximum 80,000 provisional and mail-in ballots still left to be counted.
According to the Department of State, as of 4 p.m. local time on November 14th, Casey received 48.53% of the vote with 3,359,086 votes, and McCormick had 48.90% with 3,385,115.
Schmidt stated that the last recount in the state between McCormick and cardiothoracic surgeon Mehmet Oz, known on television as Dr. Oz, cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $1.053 million.
In this case, about 7 million ballots will be subject to recount, and counties will begin counting on November 20th and must finish by November 26th at noon. They also must report their data to Schmidt by November 27th at 12 p.m.
During the recount, Schmidt said that counties will use “a different method or different equipment to tabulate the results” than they used in the initial tally to identify any potential issues.
Schmidt also noted that the results of the recount will be published online on November 27th, the day before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the state website’s elections return page will be updated as counties update their unofficial vote tallies from the original count. These updates are separate from the recount.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler slammed Casey for declining to waive the costly recount.
“Throughout his entire career, Sen. Casey has publicly called for the enforcement of the rule of law and the upholding of judicial norms,” said Cutler. “The facts and the law are clear: The election was free and fair; Dave McCormick is our new U.S. senator; a costly, statewide recount is unnecessary and duplicative; and Democrat-controlled counties are now openly defying the courts and the plain language of the election law to try and overturn a legal election result.”
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