It could be another 12 days until residents of the 18th district in Western Pennsylvania know — once and for all — who their Congressman is.
Until then, Democrat Conor Lamb, who has declared victory in the recent special election, leads Republican Rick Saccone by more than 600 votes, with three of the four counties represented in the district completing their counts of military and overseas ballots as of Wednesday afternoon.
And though the vote counts are considered final in those three counties, they won't be certified until five days after they were completed, a mandatory time period in which challenges to those counts can be filed.
Allegheny County could be the cause of the 12-day hold-up, as officials await hearings this Friday on 24 preliminary ballot challenges. As a result, the count will be officially posted next Wednesday, and would become certified five days after that on April 2, according to spokeswoman Amie Downs.
Mr. Lamb is ahead of Mr. Saccone in Allegheny County by a count of 58,655 votes to 43,289, with 524 votes recorded for independent candidate Drew Gary Miller.
The unofficial counts in the other three counties, with no more pending ballots, are as follows:
GREENE COUNTY (via elections division director Tina Kiger):
Conor Lamb: 2,022
Rick Saccone: 2,800
Drew Gray Miller: 43
WASHINGTON COUNTY (via elections director Larry Spahr):
Conor Lamb: 22,757
Rick Saccone: 26,198
Drew Gray Miller: 344
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (via elections director Beth Lechman):
Conor Lamb: 30,449
Rick Saccone: 40,951
Drew Gray Miller: 468
The final certifications of the counts will be done, pending no challenges, in Washington on March 25, Greene on March 26 and Westmoreland on March 29.
Mr. Saccone hasn't yet conceded, and could challenge the results even though a win is statistically impossible as it stands now.
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania has asked the Department of State to investigate "irregularities" in the election. A spokeswoman declined comment on that matter Wednesday.
First Published: March 21, 2018, 7:52 p.m.
