Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt ordered counties to stop counting votes in the Senate after U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (R-Pa.) conceded to Republican Dave McCormick.
“Continuing the recount would not be in the best interest of taxpayers,” Schmidt said in a statement Friday.
The recount is estimated to have cost Pennsylvania taxpayers approximately $1 million. Casey pleaded guilty Thursday night after facing criticism, mostly from Republicans, for forcing a recount.
The Associated Press called the race on November 7, but Casey refused to concede. When a recount was ordered on November 13, the difference between the candidates was about 0.43%, close enough that Pennsylvania implemented an automatic recount. However, McCormick had such a huge lead that any significant change in results was unlikely.
Many lawsuits since the recount began, requests have been made about how and whether to count absentee and provisional ballots containing errors such as missing signatures. It is unclear at this time what will happen with the ongoing legal challenges.
Schmidt said that while county-by-county vote recounts in the Senate race will be completed, two election audits will still continue. They are intended to ensure the correctness and security of elections and include the recounting of randomly selected batches of ballots. Once the audits are completed, counties will have until Nov. 25 to certify election results.
Casey was first elected in 2006 and is the longest-serving Democratic senator in Pennsylvania history. McCormick, the hedge fund manager, portrayed him as a do-nothing senator who had been in Washington too long. Casey spoke on a pro-worker platform, touting his support for unions. Ultimately, however, Pennsylvania, like most of the country, went conservative. Republicans won every statewide race in Pennsylvania, including President-elect Donald Trump.
McCormick first ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2022, but lost in the Pennsylvania GOP primary to Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz. This year, McCormick ran unchallenged in the primary and won the support of Trump and other prominent Republicans. He will take the oath on January 3, 2025.
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