PHILADELPHIA — A recount in Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary is expected to be announced by the state’s top elections official at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman will “provide an update on the need for a recount” at 2 p.m. Eastern time Friday in the Capitol, the Pennsylvania Department of State said in an email advisory Tuesday afternoon.
A recount is all but certain, triggered by a state law that requires a recount when the margin of victory is within 0.5% of the total vote.
As of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, with nearly all votes counted, celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz had 418,802 votes to former hedge fund CEO David McCormick’s 417,835.
That was a difference of 967, or just 0.072% of the counted vote.
Counties were required to report unofficial results — as close to final as possible — by 5 p.m. Tuesday, to be used by Chapman in determining whether a recount is required.
After announcing a recount Wednesday, Chapman would formally order the recount Thursday, and it would get underway next week.
A recount can be waived if the trailing candidate does so in writing by noon Wednesday, but the McCormick campaign has shown no interest in doing so. Instead, both campaigns have said they expect to win once the results are finalized.
Once called, this would be the seventh time Pennsylvania law triggered a recount, most recently in last November’s judicial race for the Commonwealth Court. Three of the previous recounts were declined by the losing candidate.
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