Credit: County of Bucks
Bucks County election officials are hard at work recounting ballots in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
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With just about 1,000 votes separating challengers Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick, the recount was triggered by the Pennsylvania Department of State due to the razor-thin margin. Oz, so far, has the lead in the race.
Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has already claimed victory and called himself the “presumptive nominee,” while McCormick said has said the recount could make the difference in the outcome.
Thomas Freitag, the Bucks County Board of Elections head, said the county is recounting 153,488 ballots with 21 staffers taking part. The effort began at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
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“Although the recount is only for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate the ballots for both parties are mixed together. Because it would take longer to physically separate Democratic and Republican ballots, they will all be rescanned. However, only the Republican U.S. Senate race will be tabulated,” he said.
Freitag said the county will certainly complete the recount in the one race by the deadline next Tuesday, but it likely will be completed by Friday.
Credit: Submitted
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In accordance with state law, Bucks County Board of Elections officials are using a different type of counting device than used in the May primary tabulation. The machines being used are rented from voting machine vendor Clear Ballot.
The Pennsylvania Department of State has estimated the cost of the statewide recount will be about $1 million.
The Pennsylvania Department of State “reimburses counties based on the number of ‘boxes’ needed to be recounted. Additional costs for overtime, equipment rental, equipment purchases, etc. is not reimbursed,” Freitag stated.
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“The full cost of the recount is not known at this time,” he said of the impact in Bucks County.
McCormick’s campaign has argued in court that counties must count absentee and mail-in ballots that were cast by 8 p.m. on primary election day, but the required date on the back was either wrong or not listed. Oz and the national and state GOP have argued against McCormick’s position.
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Bucks County Solicitor Joe Khan said his office has assigned attorney Amy Fitzpatrick to monitor impacts from election-related court decisions on Bucks County.
Either Oz or McCormick will face off against Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat from outside of Pittsburgh, in the November general election.
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