McCormick challenging some Berks County votes

A Republican candidate for U.S. Senate is challenging a group of ballots cast in Berks County in last week’s primary election.

David McCormick has filed a challenge with the county’s board of elections asking that provisional ballots cast after 8 p.m. not be included in the county’s total vote count.

McCormick is in a heated contest with celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. The race and the razor-thin lead that Oz holds has drawn the attention of the nation.

Stephanie Weaver, public relations officer for the county, said those ballots are being segregated and not included in unofficial vote totals as of Tuesday afternoon.

McCormick’s challenge stems from an election day issue in Berks that led to voting being extended by one hour.

Shortly after voting began at 7 a.m., several precincts from around the county reported issues with the new electronic poll books the county had put into widespread use for the first time. The issues led the county to decide to shut down the electronic poll books and instead utilize backup, paper poll books.

Polling locations did not have the paper poll books on hand, meaning county workers had to deliver them to each of the county’s 202 precincts.

While poll workers were told not to let the switch impact voting, some poll workers and voters reported that voters were turned away at the polls and asked to return later or instructed to fill out provisional ballots.

The situation led the county’s Republican and Democratic committees to join forces and petition the county court to extend voting by one hour. That request was granted by Judge James L. Lillis, who ordered polls stay open until 9 p.m.

Lillis’ order instructed poll workers to allow voters who arrived at precincts between 8 and 9 p.m. to fill out provisional ballots.

Weaver said Tuesday that a total of 215 such provisional ballots were cast: 144 by Republicans, 62 by Democrats and nine by independent voters.

Those 215 votes are the ones being challenged by McCormick.

First Assistant County Solicitor Cody Kauffman said the matter is scheduled to be heard during Thursday’s election board meeting.

There is also a second issue involving McCormick that could complicate the results statewide.

McCormick filed a petition in state Commonwealth Court on Monday to make sure all undated ballots received on time are counted in counties that are, so far, refusing to count them.

His petition follows a May 20 ruling by a federal appeals court that permitted mail ballots in Lehigh County to be counted despite not having the required date on the exterior of the ballot.

In an appearance Monday on a conservative Philadelphia radio talk show, McCormick insisted “every Republican vote should count” and said his campaign believes the federal court decision is binding on counties.

Oz is fighting McCormick’s petition, and the national and state Republican parties are taking his side in opposing McCormick’s effort.

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of State has issued guidance to counties to count mail ballots with undated signatures but in separate counts amid the legal challenge.

Oz led McCormick by 992 votes out of 1,341,037 ballots reported by the state as of Tuesday morning.

The race is close enough to trigger Pennsylvania’s automatic recount law, with the separation between the candidates inside the law’s 0.5% margin. That could take until June 8.

Oz and McCormick are vying for the nomination to take on Democratic nominee John Fetterman in a contest that is expected to be among the nation’s most competitive races this fall.

It’s not clear how many mail ballots that lack a handwritten date have been received by all 67 counties. Although McCormick trails the vote count, McCormick has been doing better than Oz among mail ballots.

Weaver said Berks received 645 mail ballots that did not include dates. Of those, 507 were cast by Democrats and 138 were cast by Republicans.

Berks closer to completing vote count

The undated mail ballots and provision ballots cast after 8 p.m. are two categories of votes that have still not been included in Berks’ vote totals.

Other votes have been added, and the county updated its election results Monday evening.

The county updated results on its election website to reflect the counting of nearly all the mail ballots that were cast. The initial results posted on the website the day after last Tuesday’s election included only mail ballots received before May 16, meaning those that came in on May 16 or election day still had to be tallied.

The vote totals now include nearly 71,896 votes cast in person on election day or through mail ballots. Of those, 57,752 were cast in person, and 14,144 were by mail.

The party breakdown of the votes counted so far show the Republican primary was more popular than the Democratic version.

A total of 42,424 Republicans cast ballots, while 29,348 Democrats voted.

Despite the update, vote totals for the county are still not complete.

Along with the contested provisional and undated mail ballots, there are still a number of mail ballots that need to be manually entered into the system, around 30 overseas and military ballots and about 600 other provisional ballots.

Those votes are being processed, and county officials did not provide a timeline for when they will be added to the total vote count.

Results are deemed unofficial until certified by the respective county board of elections and the Pennsylvania Department of State. The date for state certification is June 6.