No recount in Pennsylvania, secretary of state says amid highly-contested presidential election
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar will not order a recount in her state, where Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump by around 60,000 votes. The Trump campaign plans on legally challenging Biden’s apparent win.
In a statement released on Friday, Boockvar, a Democrat, said that none of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties reported a difference of more than half a percentage point in the race between Trump and Biden, putting a recount off the table.
Unlike Pennsylvania, Georgia is currently holding a statewide recount by hand. Some of Trump’s supporters, however, alleged that the count will merely repeat the results of election night, which they claim were fraudulent. As such, they have called for a full audit of the vote.
In Pennsylvania, the GOP also called last week for a full audit in the Keystone State, claiming that Republican observers were excluded from polling places, and that late-arriving ballots may have been illegally counted.
The Trump campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit to stop Boockvar from certifying the election result in her state, alleging that the massive mail-in vote in Pennsylvania “lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters.” Republicans have also challenged a Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to count mail-in ballots postmarked by election day, no matter if they were delivered three days late.
Prior to the election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed county officials to count ballots with missing or illegible postmarks, a move the Trump campaign says led to fraud.
According to Boockvar, these potentially dodgy ballots, “are not of a sufficient number to impact the no-recount determination of any of the statewide races.”
Joe Biden has claimed victory in the election, with the press calling the race by 306-232 electoral votes. Trump has refused to concede, and has mounted a flurry of legal challenges against Biden’s apparent win.
Unlike Pennsylvania, Georgia is currently holding a statewide recount by hand. Some of Trump’s supporters, however, alleged that the count will merely repeat the results of election night, which they claim were fraudulent. As such, they have called for a full audit of the vote.
In Pennsylvania, the GOP also called last week for a full audit in the Keystone State, claiming that Republican observers were excluded from polling places, and that late-arriving ballots may have been illegally counted.
The Trump campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit to stop Boockvar from certifying the election result in her state, alleging that the massive mail-in vote in Pennsylvania “lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters.” Republicans have also challenged a Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to count mail-in ballots postmarked by election day, no matter if they were delivered three days late.
Prior to the election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed county officials to count ballots with missing or illegible postmarks, a move the Trump campaign says led to fraud.
According to Boockvar, these potentially dodgy ballots, “are not of a sufficient number to impact the no-recount determination of any of the statewide races.”
Joe Biden has claimed victory in the election, with the press calling the race by 306-232 electoral votes. Trump has refused to concede, and has mounted a flurry of legal challenges against Biden’s apparent win.