Recount Likely in PA Special Election Amid Allegations of Irregularities

Yesterday's much-publicized special election in Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district remains close, with the Democrat Conor Lamb leading Republican Rick Saccone by just 627 votes out of over 228,000 cast.  A recount is expected:

A source familiar with the next steps said Republican attorneys are planning to go to court Wednesday to demand the impounding of all ballots and machines that were used Tuesday night in all counties, as they plan for a possible recount.

There are allegations of irregularities with the voting machines and with absentee ballot processing:

Republicans plan to probe allegations that touch screen machines in Allegheny County were not properly calibrated and could have possibly registered votes for Lamb when the voter intended to vote for Saccone. 

These attorneys also plan to allege that GOP attorneys were blocked from observing absentee ballots by Allegheny County election supervisors.

There are also some concerns that the newly court-drawn map for the next election caused confusion. 

Another absentee ballot processing irregularity occurred in Washington County, which originally did not plan to count its 1,195 absentee ballots until today.  It planned to hold them in a secured location overnight before distributing them back out to the election precincts to be counted and reported back to the county election board.  Then, late last night, county officials changed their minds and decided to count them last night because of the close nature of the race.

We will update readers of this blog on the status of the recount, any investigations, and any litigation resulting from this race.