On Monday, the Washington Examinerreported that David McCormick, a hedge fund executive running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania, is suing to count certain absentee ballots, as he and the Trump-backed candidate, celebrity TV talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, face an automatic recount to determine who wins the primary.
"The lawsuit, filed late Monday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, asks the state to force all 67 counties' boards of elections to count Republican mail-in ballots received on time but without a handwritten date on the outside envelope, as mandated by the statute," reported David M. Drucker.
McCormick's lawsuit rests in part on a federal court decision late last week, ruling that such ballots are valid.
"Oz led McCormick by .08 percentage points with most precincts reporting as ballots continued to be counted six days after the primary election," said the report. "But McCormick says that he believes he won the nomination and insists he will overtake Oz once remaining Republican mail-in ballots are tallied. With some Election Day votes and a sizable number of mail-in ballots and overseas military ballots left to count, McCormick’s claims are viable."
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"Going to court, however, presents a political risk for McCormick, at least in the court of Republican public opinion," said the report. "Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Oz, is critical of mail-in ballots generally, as well as lawsuits filed to force states and municipalities to count votes in ways not expressly permitted by state law. Grassroots conservatives have historically opposed court-ordered rules changes but not necessarily mail-in balloting. But haranguing by Trump has made Republican voters suspicious of the latter and even more troubled by the former."
Trump, for his part, has raged against the ongoing count on his platform, Truth Social, demanding that officials stop counting votes and urging Oz to declare himself the winner. This is similar to Trump's attitude during the 2020 presidential election, when he and his supporters tried to force election officials to "stop the count" in states where Trump was ahead but where there were outstanding votes for Joe Biden to count.
