Auto recount on the table for U.S. Senate GOP candidate
Two candidates gobbled the majority of votes and finished Tuesday night in a razor-thin decision with no clear winner, and that might mean a recount could be on the horizon.
According to unofficial results, Dr. Mehmet Oz was leading the Republican primary with 402,629 votes, 31.38%. His top competitor David McCormick loomed from behind, but narrowly with 401,133 votes, 31.26%.
In Pennsylvania, an automatic recount will be conducted for a statewide race that has less than or equal to 0.5% separation between the two top candidates. That .5% is calculated based on the total votes cast in that election.
Based on the calculation, if the race between Oz and McCormick, finished with a difference of about 4,000 votes, there will be an automatic recount. Otherwise, one will have to be requested at the expense of the candidate requesting it.
By night’s end, both candidates issued statements about Tuesday’s nights ambiguity.
Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon, was locked with former hedge fund manager David McCormick
“We’re not gonna have a result tonight,” Oz said.
McCormick, a hedge fund manager, said there were still ballots that needed counting.
“We’re not going to have resolution tonight,” he said.
Counties were left to decide how and when mail-in ballots were counted.
In Butler County, the mail-in ballots had been counted by 2 p.m., and the results were lumped into the unofficial results as they released Tuesday night.
Though procedures with mail-in ballots may fluctuate across the state, all counties still have other types of ballots to count, including military absentee and provisional ballots.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
