McCormick Campaign Sues Bucks Co. Over Ballot Counting: Report

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —With the Pennsylvania Senate race headed for a recount, Republican David McCormick is suing the Bucks County Board of Elections alleging it improperly counted mail-in ballots, according to reports.

More than 400 mail-in ballots that were misdated or not dated in McCormick's bid for the U.S. Senate seat representing Pennsylvania were accepted, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

More than a week after Election Day, the U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Bob Casey for the six-year term is so tight that votes will be recounted in each of the state's 67 counties.

The appeal filed with the Bucks County Common Pleas Court on Thursday morning alleged the county Board of Elections improperly voted to count 405 mail-in ballots that don't comply with the date requirements, the newspaper reported.

"The county has no comment on this pending litigation," Bucks County spokesman James O'Malley told Patch Thursday.

The Board of Elections is made up of the three Bucks County commissioners.

The three voted 2-1 along party lines to accept the mail-in ballots at its post-election meeting Tuesday, the newspaper said. Democrats Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Robert Harvie voted to count them. Minority commissioner Gene DiGirolamo voted no.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced Wednesday that preliminary results were within the 0.5 percent margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania state law.

According to the Department of State website, as of Thursday morning, McCormick had 3,380,310 votes to Casey's 3,350,972 votes. That gives McCormick 48.93 percent of the vote to Casey's 48.50 percent of the vote.

The Associated Press last week projected McCormick as the winner, but Casey has yet to concede as provisional ballots continue to be counted. McCormick was in Washington on Wednesday attending a Senate orientation session.

According to the State Department, the recount will cost taxpayers $1 million. Counties must begin recounting votes no later than Nov. 20, finish by noon on Nov. 26, and report the results to the state department by Nov. 27 - the day before Thanksgiving.