McCormick-Casey recount cost to top $1M; GOP slams blue counties defying high court

The cost of Pennsylvania’s Senate recount is expected to top $1 million as Republicans seek to prevent three Democratic-friendly counties from counting ballots against the apparent wishes of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia Republican appointed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, said Thursday that automatic recounts are triggered if the unofficial margin is within 0.5%.

GOP Sen.-elect David McCormick and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. were separated by 0.43% with a maximum 80,000 provisional and mail-in ballots to be counted, Schmidt said in a video address.

In a press call, McCormick representatives analyzed raw data and calculated "zero" path for Casey — recount or not — to overtake their boss.

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Schmidt said the last automatic recount, between McCormick and cardiothoracic surgeon Mehmet Oz, cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $1.053 million and resulted in Oz moving on to the general election against John Fetterman.

In Casey’s case, about 7 million ballots will be subject to recount, and counties must report their data to Schmidt by Nov. 27.

The trailing candidate in three of the state's previous eight automatic recounts waived the opportunity.

Pennsylvania’s top legislative Republican also slammed the incumbent for declining to waive the costly recount.

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"Throughout his entire career, Sen. Casey has publicly called for the enforcement of the rule of law and the upholding of judicial norms," said House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster.

"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."

Cutler said Casey should "immediately" concede and halt the recount and multiple cases of litigation across the state relating to the race.

McCormick’s campaign call foreshadowed news from Bucks, Centre and Philadelphia counties that their boards of election were prepared to count small numbers of undated or misdated ballots. 

Republicans said that runs counter to a recent ruling from the 5-2 Democratic majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 

The high bench declined to rule on the September case’s merits in tossing a lower court ruling that Philadelphia and Allegheny counties should count misdated or undated ballots from a prior election.

The RNC filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, urging it to reaffirm its recent decision.

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While the Casey campaign did not immediately return a request for comment, campaign manager Tiernan Donohue told PennLive the campaign was working to ensure all "Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard."

"McCormick and his allies are working to disenfranchise voters in Pennsylvania and spread misinformation," Donohue said.

Fox News Digital reached out to officials in Bellefonte, where the Centre County elections board reportedly signaled its intent to count undated ballots. 

McCormick and the Pennsylvania GOP have sued Centre County, and a hearing was scheduled for Friday in Bellefonte. The plaintiffs alleged Centre’s decision is "legally erroneous."

The mostly rural county, home to Penn State University, had been ground zero for Republicans seeking to make inroads in Democratic-friendly areas.

Philadelphia’s city commissioners also voted 2-1 to count about 607 questioned ballots. 

In a response to Fox News Digital, the board said several counties voted to count a "relatively small number of undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots" and acknowledged GOP litigation.

"We are reviewing the filings," Board Chairman Omar Sabir and Lisa Deeley, both Democrats, and Republican Seth Bluestein said in a joint statement. 

In Doylestown, Bucks County Board of Elections Chairman Bob J. Harvie Jr. told KYW he’d rather "be on the side of counting ballots than not counting them."

"The courts, I believe, will take this up. So, we're going to get sued either way," he said.