Butler County officials confirmed Wednesday that undated mail-in ballots received during May’s primary election are not reflected in current election result figures.

“We’re going to follow the law and not count undated ballots,” said County Commissioner Kim Geyer, elaborating on the decision made by the county Bureau of Elections.

County solicitor Wil White said the ballots have been segregated, counted on their own and sorted by political affiliation.

In Butler County, 83 undated ballots have been set aside, 50 of them coming from Democratic voters and 33 by Republicans.

White said he had no timeline for when courts may make a final determination on undated ballots.

“I don’t anticipate a decision any time soon,” White said.

Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick’s campaign filed a lawsuit Monday in Commonwealth Court calling for all undated ballots to be counted in a race that has been determined too-close-to-call.

McCormick trails Dr. Mehmet Oz by fewer than than 1,000 votes. McCormick’s lawsuit is being opposed by the national and state Republican parties.

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania's top election official said that the margin between the top two candidates in last week's Republican primary for U.S. Senate is tight enough to trigger a statewide recount, dragging the outcome into June.

Butler County attorney Thomas King represents both the Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania Republican Party on behalf of which he filed an application of intervention toward McCormick’s lawsuit.

In an interview Wednesday, King said both entities he represents believe counting undated mail-in ballots as well as Act 77 as a whole is wrong.

“All of Act 77 is a terrible law. It has created lots of litigation, and nothing but problems in Pennsylvania,” King said. “It has undermined the confidence of the public in the election system.”

King said it is a bit strange to be representing Republicans against other Republicans, but the intervention had to be done to ensure the court system could not further impact law.

“It shouldn’t be up to the courts to pick and choose what parts of the law we should follow,“ he said. “In order to remain consistent, we’re taking the same position here with two Republicans as we would if it was a Republican and Democrat.“

King also applauded county officials for keeping the questionable ballots out of current election vote totals. He said they are taking a stand toward ensuring election integrity in Pennsylvania.

“It’s 100% the right decision,” King said.

Though the argument over undated ballots may sound familiar, they differ from “naked” ballots which were argued over in 2020.

Following many court battles, the state Supreme Court ruled in September 2020 that naked ballots would not be counted.

When mailing a ballot, the voter must put their ballot inside a security sleeve which is then inserted and sealed inside an envelope. If the sleeve is not used, which it is required to do so by law, then it is considered a naked ballot.

Butler County set aside 62 naked ballots from the May primary.

An undated ballot is another form of user error. On the mail-in ballot envelope, the voter is required to sign their name and date the signature. The “undated” ballots being talked about are those with no dates next to the signature on the envelope.

According to unofficial election results, 47,340 Butler County residents cast their ballot by mail or in person. Of that, 32,120 were Republican and 15,220 were Democrats.

Outside of these exceptions, the election bureau at 1 p.m. Wednesday counted the final ballots for the May primaries.

Ballots being counted include 81 provisional, 10 military and six that required further state ID verification.

White said he also expects some form of order from the state in the next few days regarding the automatic recounts for the state Senate race between McCormick and Oz.

He said until he receives that order, he doesn’t not know the specifics on how a recount will be conducted; however, if the procedure resembles past recounts, county’s staff will have familiarity.

“I anticipate it will commence in the next week or so,” White said. “We’re prepared for it. We just went through one in the November election.”