UPDATE 10:51 a.m.: They’re continuing to count the votes in Pennsylvania and the race has not yet been called. Some pundits are saying that the outstanding votes (a mix of mail-in and day-of votes) will benefit McCormick, but that’s yet to be determined. Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburg, has said that they will not be counting any more votes until Friday. There are also some troubling issues with memory sticks that were improperly handled:
Currently, we have 1,289 precincts reporting of the 1,323 in the county.
Of those remaining (32), there are 31 for which materials were returned but the memory sticks are not contained with those materials. Instead, they were left in the scanners and will need to be manually retrieved from those when the equipment is picked up from the polling place. A single memory stick failed when it was read. The second stick will be read when the Return Board convenes.
All mail-in and absentee ballots have been counted and are posted in the online results.
There will be few updates from us tomorrow. There is just a skeleton staff on in the Elections office tomorrow due to the long day today. I’ll provide an update on Thursday with more detailed information on next steps, but the Return Board will convene on Friday morning at 9 AM to begin its work.
Oz currently leads McCormick by about 2,600 votes.
Original report:
The Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary has yet to be decided, and the final result may come down to tens of thousands of outstanding mail-in ballots that won’t be counted until Wednesday.
Currently, businessman Dave McCormick leads Trump-endorsed TV doctor Mehmet Oz by about 1,700 votes, well within the margin for a mandatory recount.
Upstart candidate Kathy Barnette, who appeared to be gaining ground on her competitors early in the night, is currently at 24.7%
Just before midnight local time, McCormick told supporters, “We had a pretty good day today. I want to thank you all so much for your support for what’s happened across Pennsylvania today. There’s been a huge outpouring of support. We knew it, we felt it on the ground, we knew it was working, we knew our message to take back this country was resonating in Pennsylvania and they showed it today and we’re so incredibly grateful.”
He thanked supporters and predicted that he will prevail in the race. “Right now, we have tens of thousands of mail-in ballots that have not been counted, that are going to need to be counted tomorrow, and so that, unfortunately, we’re not going to have resolution tonight. But we can see the path ahead, we can see victory ahead, and it’s all because of you.”
“We’re gonna take back this country. We’re going to take back this state,” he declared.
Speaking to supporters, Oz credited Trump and Sean Hannity for his success in the race and thanked both men for their support. He predicted that he will be the next senator from Pennsylvania.
The winner of the GOP primary will face progressive John Fetterman in November.
Full results here:
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