The Associated Press projected that the Republican challenger defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), but Casey has yet to concede.
The campaign of Republican Dave McCormick, who was projected the winner of the Pennsylvania Senate race, has filed a lawsuit against the Philadelphia County Board of Elections to challenge the counting of provisional ballots, which began today.
McCormick defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), the Associated Press projected on Nov. 7, with 97 percent of votes counted. Casey has yet to concede.
The board began counting the provisional ballots on Nov. 8, when the case was scheduled to be heard.
There are approximately 15,000–20,000 provisional ballots, according to the suit, which was obtained by The Epoch Times.
The suit requests that the campaign be allowed to make “global challenges” during the counting as it “is concerned that the sheer number of provisional ballots will overwhelm the capacity for individual challenges, creating an impractical burden that risks errors or inconsistencies in the adjudication process.”
The campaign says this could result in improper ballots being counted and lead to an unfair election.
Global challenges would entail challenging many ballots at once, whereas challenges of individual ballots “would be a waste of judicial and economic resources.”
The campaign also stated that Democrats have been allowed more observers than Republicans and, therefore, it “would result in thousands of provisional ballots being examined and adjudicated outside the presence of at least one representative” of the McCormick campaign or the GOP. Hence, the campaign or Republican observers would not be able to see each ballot and decide whether to launch a challenge.
The Epoch Times reached out to the McCormick campaign and the Philadelphia County Board of Elections for comment but received no reply by publication time.
More than 95 percent of ballots have been counted in Philadelphia County, which is overwhelmingly Democrat.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt called for patience while the final ballots were being counted.
“The Department has communicated with counties who continue to conduct a secure election where every eligible vote is counted. We estimate there are at least 100,000 ballots remaining to be adjudicated, including provisional, military, overseas, and Election Day votes,” he wrote on X.
“We urge patience as election workers continue to do this important work, especially in contests where the margins are very close.”
Schmidt said there are party and bipartisan observers present during the counting.
The secretary of state, he noted, does not declare the winners of elections, but just reports the voting results.
In accordance with Pennsylvania law, ballots could not begin to be counted until 7 a.m. on Election Day, or Nov. 5.