Pennsylvania Democrats openly admit to counting illegal ballots in McCormick-Casey race

As Pennsylvania's contested Senate race heads toward a million-dollar recount, Democratic officials in a few blue counties are openly admitting to counting disqualified ballots in defiance of state law and court orders.

The Associated Press called the race for Republican Sen.-elect Dave McCormick, who currently holds a 26,000-vote lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. But Casey refused to give in and insisted that every vote be counted. The tight margin – within a percentage point – triggered an automatic recount under Pennsylvania law.

Yet the crucial question is which votes should be counted? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled before the election that mail-in ballots lacking the formally required signatures or dates should not be included in the official results. However, Democratic officials in Philadelphia and surrounding Bucks, Center and Montgomery counties are ignoring this court order.

“I think we all know that court precedent no longer matters in this country,” Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, said Thursday as she and d Other Democrats were voting to reject a GOP-led challenge to ballots that should be disqualified.

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Republican Sen.-elect Dave McCormick (left) and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images, left, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, right.)

“People break laws all the time. So for me, if I break this law, it's because I want a court to pay attention to it. There's nothing more important than counting votes .”

Officials estimate there are fewer than 80,000 provisional ballots left to be counted in the Keystone State, or less than 2% of the vote, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Although the chances of Casey being able to close its deficit are slim, his and McCormick's attorneys clashed repeatedly at county commissioners' meetings this week as local officials debated whether to count small handfuls of ballots.

Democrats insist they are acting in good faith that rejecting someone's vote due to a clerical error violates their constitutional rights.

In Montgomery County, for example, officials deliberated for 30 minutes over whether about 180 provisional ballots without secrecy envelopes should be counted. The Inquirer reported that several of those votes came from the same precinct, suggesting an error by poll workers.

Democratic board Chairman Neil Makhija voted to accept the ballots so voters would not be disenfranchised. But other board members, including a Democrat and a Republican, voted to reject the ballots on the advice of county attorneys, who determined that the law clearly stated they should not be counted.

“We are talking about constitutional rights and I cannot take steps to throw out someone's validly cast vote, otherwise, on an issue that we know… is immaterial,” Makhija said during the Thursday meeting. The board ultimately voted to count a total of 501 contested ballots.

Similar disputes over hundreds of votes occurred in Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties.

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Trump (left) listens as David McCormick, candidate for United States senator, speaks at a campaign rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, November 4, 2024. (ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

Additionally, there are ongoing disputes over undated mail-in ballots or those submitted with an incorrect date on the outer envelope. Several local Democratic officials said an incorrect date should not be grounds to disqualify a person's vote. Lower courts agreed with this reasoning, but the Pennsylvania high court determined that the law required exact dates for counting mail-in ballots.

The McCormick campaign and the Republican National Committee have asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reaffirm its Nov. 1 ruling to block Democrats from including undated mail-in ballots in their final tallies. The Casey campaign and the Pennsylvania Department of State have countered with legal motions arguing that counties should be left alone and that the high court does not need to intervene while the challenges move through the appeals process.

The open defiance of judicial precedent prompted Republicans to cry foul.

“Let's be clear about what is happening here: Pennsylvania Democrats are brazenly trying to break the law by attempting to count illegal ballots. They are doing this because they want to steal a Senate seat,” the president wrote of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, on

He said the RNC filed four lawsuits challenging the county's decisions on undated ballots and pledged to “fight as long as necessary” to ensure McCormick's victory stood.

“This is exactly the kind of election interference from the left that undermines voter confidence,” Whatley said.

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Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey speaks to supporters before former President Barack Obama speaks at a 2018 statewide campaign rally for Democratic candidates in Philadelphia. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Democrats defended their actions and pointed out that McCormick himself advocated for the contested ballots to be counted when he trailed famed heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 Republican primary for office. US Senate.

In that case, McCormick's attorney told a state judge that the purpose of Pennsylvania's election law was to allow people to vote, “not to play trap with them.”

There are potentially thousands of mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates on the return envelope across the state, although most counties have not taken steps to count them.

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A state-ordered recount must be completed by November 26 at noon. Officials said they don't expect the process to change the outcome of the race by more than a few hundred votes.

Both McCormick and Casey were in Washington, D.C., this week. Casey participated in official Senate business and voted while McCormick attended new member orientation and met with other members of the new Republican majority to vote for conference leadership.

Charles Creitz of Fox News Digital and the Associated Press contributed to this report.