Sen. Mike Lee said Republicans could refuse to seat Sen. Bob Casey if the Democrat is declared the winner of a bitterly contested recount effort materializing in Pennsylvania.
“If Bob Casey doesn’t concede, Pennsylvania keeps counting illegal votes, & Casey relies on those votes to claim victory, the Senate could refuse to seat him,” Mr. Lee, Utah Republican, wrote on X Saturday, citing a clause from Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution that says, “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.”
The X post was a follow-up to his earlier post that said, “Bob Casey, you’re better than this! It’s time to concede now.” The post was a response to another post that included a screenshot of The Washington Post op-ed slamming Pennsylvania Democrats for counting invalid ballots.
The Pennsylvania Senate seat is heading toward a recount since the results are within the 0.5% margin threshold that calls for a recount under state law. Counties need to start the recount by Nov. 20 and be finished by Nov. 26.
A recount doesn’t mean a different race result.
Mr. Casey, the incumbent Democrat, has not conceded the race, even after The Associated Press called it for Republican Dave McCormick over a week ago. As of Nov. 17, Mr. McCormick is winning by less than 20,000 votes with 99% of the vote reporting done.
SEE ALSO: Pennsylvania Senate race, recount sparks litigation, criticism
“Across our Commonwealth, close to 7 million people cast their votes in a free and fair election,” Mr. Casey wrote on X earlier this week. “The American democratic process was born in Pennsylvania and that process will play out.”
The state Supreme Court ruled in September that election officials are not to count any mail-in ballots that are missing return dates on envelopes or have incorrect dates.
However, some election officials in certain Pennsylvania counties have voted to count them anyway.
Litigation has been filed by Republicans both in-state and nationally to stop the counting of the invalid ballots.
“What’s taking place in these counties is absolute lawlessness,” Pennsylvania Republican Party chair, Lawrence Tabas, said in a statement.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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