McCormick lawsuits dismissed and withdrawn from Pa.'s U.S. Senate race

(This story has been updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)

Republican Dave McCormick, the declared winner of Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Senate race, filed legal challenges Thursday evening in an attempt to influence Philadelphia’s handling of thousands of provisional ballots that still remain uncounted.

Emergency requests were resolved quickly; City election officials said the judge denied one of McCormick’s requests at Friday’s hearing, and his attorneys later withdrew the other. But as McCormick tries to put an end to the contest, the submissions have sparked a new mass messaging war between the campaigns.

Unofficial vote totals McCormick has so far trailed three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by less than 1 percentage point, and the incumbent president’s campaign has shown he still has hope for the state’s future. provisional ballots can close this gap.

on thursday, Associated Press calls tight Senate race for McCormickHe held a victory press conference in Pittsburgh on Friday. But Casey has so far refused to concede, saying, “We must let the process continue and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted is counted.”

McCormick’s legal lawsuit suggested the two campaigns could get into a fight over which votes should be included in the final total.

And Casey’s representatives pointed out the application — saying disputes over provisional ballots could have a “potential impact on the outcome of the election” — as evidence that McCormick was prematurely crowned the winner.

McCormick did not express any doubt about his victory in his speech to supporters Friday, but said he understood what it felt like to lose a close election, citing his 1,000-vote loss to Mehmet Oz in the 2022 GOP Senate primary. Casey, who has been in office for 18 years, “will have to get over this,” McCormick said.

“We knew we won on election night because the math was clear and there was no way Senator Casey was going to win,” he continued.

McCormick’s lawyers said they expect 15,000 to 20,000 provisional ballots to be counted in the coming days in deep blue Philadelphia.

In a filing late Thursday in Common Pleas Court, McCormick’s attorneys requested the opportunity to file “global challenges” to provisional ballots they believe are defective and should not have been counted because they lacked a secrecy envelope, the signature was missing or was incorrect. other ways. They also wanted officials to separate ballots submitted by people who had previously tried to vote by mail.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that mail-in voters whose ballots were rejected due to error must be returned. temporarily allowed to vote so they can still participate in the election. The US Supreme Court left this decision in place.

But McCormick’s lawyers said the matter was “ripe for appeal to the United States Supreme Court” and asked the justices to order Philadelphia officials to set aside those votes until further action is taken.

In a separate case in Common Pleas Court, McCormick asked that courts force election officials to consider provisional ballots in the presence of at least one representative from each party.

Each political party and candidate is allowed to appoint an observer to monitor the provisional voting process. But because more Democrats than Republicans run for elected office in Philadelphia, there is an imbalance between the two parties in the number of authorized representatives allowed.

As a result, McCormick’s attorneys said they are concerned that without judicial intervention, thousands of provisional ballots “will be reviewed and adjudicated without the scrutiny” of at least one GOP representative.

At a hearing Friday, the court denied the campaign’s request for emergency action against the observers, according to a statement released by the Philadelphia City Commissioners. The McCormick campaign later withdrew its motion to address provisional ballots, the statement said.

A spokeswoman for election officials said the legal filings did not cause any delays in the voting process in Philadelphia.

Bethany Rodgers is an investigative journalist for the USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania equity bureau.

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