Every vote matters, literally and figuratively, in a Pennsylvania GOP Senate contest that is still too close to call two days after the primary.
According to Decision Desk HQ, as of 3 p.m. on May 19, Dr. Mehmet Oz had a slim lead with 417,250 votes (31.16 percent) vs 415,971 (31.07) for David McCormick.
Over 20,000 votes were added to the totals in the 24 hours between the mornings of May 17 and 18. McCormick received roughly 1,500 votes thanks to mail-in ballots.
Oz’s lead peaked at 2,564 votes, but after mail-in ballots that couldn’t be counted before election day were added to the results, his lead shrank from about 2,700 to around 1,200.
The number of ballots yet to be counted is unknown. The McCormick campaign projected that 20,000 ballots are still pending as of late May 18. According to PennLive.com, other estimates put the number at as low as 12,000 people.
Election Day ballots in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Delaware County, remain uncounted.
Thirty precincts in Allegheny County failed to return memory sticks from polling equipment.
Two memory sticks are distributed to each precinct. When the polls shut, one should be returned to the regional reporting centre. Another option is to stay safe within the polling place scanners.
Allegheny County authorities claim that 30 precincts accidentally locked both memory sticks in the scanners, preventing them from submitting data on Election Night.
Another precinct’s memory card had failed. Allegheny County must now wait until the results are uploaded from the sealed memory stick at the regional reporting centre.
