Dave McCormick asks for hand recount in 12 counties after still unsettled GOP Senate primary

With counties already deep in a state-mandated recount of Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary, Republican candidate Dave McCormick is asking for a hand recount in 12 counties where his campaign says vote tallies don't line up with state totals. 

A senior McCormick campaign official told reporters on Tuesday that the hand recount will help reconcile differences between county and state vote counts. The campaign is asking the Commonwealth Court to order a hand recount in 12 counties: Allegheny, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Erie, Lancaster, Monroe, Schuylkill, Westmoreland and York. 

The McCormick campaign said the hand recount would be kept to locations where they believe abnormalities exist. “There's a list of counties and precincts where the undervote falls outside the norm,” the campaign official said. “We’re asking for hand recounts in the outlier areas.”

The McCormick campaign official said the hand recount will help the campaign to “get a complete sense of the delta between what the counties are providing our campaign and what the Department of State (is providing).”

Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman ordered a separate, statewide recount last week, which is mandated by state law if two leading candidates finish within a half of 1% of each other. According to unofficial state results, Oz finished with a slight lead over McCormick, with Oz receiving 419,365 votes and McCormick recording 418,463 votes. 

The statewide recount must be completed by noon on June 7, and counties must submit results to the state by noon on June 8, according to the Department of State. 

The winner of the state’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate will go on to face Pennsylvania Lt.  Gov. John Fetterman, who handedly won the Democratic nomination for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.