The last county left to certify its election results for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District did so Monday morning, leaving no more obstacles separating Conor Lamb and his seat in the U.S. House.
Allegheny County's Board of Elections certified its results at a 10 a.m. meeting, and plans to send them to the Pennsylvania state department on Tuesday, according to county spokeswoman Amie Downs.
The certification is the final step in officially declaring Mr. Lamb the winner of the March 13 special election, which was to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. Tim Murphy's resignation last year.
Mr. Lamb's victory on election night -- by a margin of just hundreds of votes -- was marred by uncertainty for more than a week as his Republican opponent, Rick Saccone, waited for military and overseas ballots to be counted.
Mr. Saccone conceded the race on March 21 as the margin appeared to be too much to overcome, but official certifications were still to come.
Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties certified their results the week of March 23. Allegheny was awaiting hearings on 24 preliminary ballot challenges, which were all withdrawn the day before.
There is no date set for Mr. Lamb's swearing-in to Congress, but it is expected to be shortly after the House returns from recess April 9.
Allegheny ended up being the most significant in Mr. Lamb's 755-vote win, favoring him by about 15,000 votes. He won Allegheny by a tally of 58,874 votes to Mr. Saccone's 43,398, with 526 votes for Libertarian Drew Miller and 45 write-ins.
Mr. Saccone won Westmoreland County 40,951 votes to 30,449; Washington County 26,198 to 22,757; and Greene County 2,800 to 2,022.
Julian Routh: jrouth@post-gazette.com
First Published: April 2, 2018, 3:21 p.m.
