Judge Denies Appeal In Tomlinson-Davis Senate Race

BENSALEM, PA — A judge on Monday denied a petition to count more absentee ballots in the race for a state senate seat in Lower Bucks County, clearing the way for elections officials to certify state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson's apparent 74-vote victory over state Rep. Tina Davis.

Davis, a Democrat, had filed a petition to have counted 216 Bucks County absentee ballots that arrived after Pennsylvania's deadline had expired. But, on Monday, Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley dismissed the motion, which sought to have the deadline declared unconstitutional.

It's not clear how many of those votes were in District 6, which Tomlinson, a Republican, has represented since 1995. But Davis's campaign had hoped it would be enough to overturn Tomlinson's razor-thin margin — which sat at exactly 100 votes on election night and shrank to just 74 after provisional ballots, absentees and overseas and military ballots were counted.

Finley did not state a reason for the dismissal.

Pennsylvania law allows voters to apply for an absentee ballot up to the Tuesday before an election, but those ballots must be physically received by the close of business on the Friday before the election. The deadline has been in place since 1937.

Tomlinson, of Bensalem, had declared victory the day afterunofficial election-night results showed him ahead of Davis, 54,319 to 54,219. Davis, of Bristol Township, meanwhile refused to concede until the slow process of counting every ballot played out.

Davis, as is allowed by Pennsylvania law, also was seeking re-election to her House seat while seeking to knock off Tomlinson. She won that race handily, defeating Republican Anthony Sposato, 13,332 to 8,131.

The 6th Senate District includes includes Bensalem, Bristol, Lower Southampton, Middletown, Northampton, Warwick, and Wrightstown townships, as well as Bristol, Hulmeville, Ivyland, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, and Penndel boroughs.

Photos via Tomlinson, Davis campaigns