2022 primary initially certified — with exception of U.S. Senate race

Almost all of the results from York County's 2022 primary received initial certification Tuesday by the York County Board of Elections.

That's with the exception of the Republican primary for U.S. senator. York County started a recount of that race last week, leaving it up in the air whether Dr. Mehmet Oz or Dave McCormick would challenge Democratic nominee John Fetterman.

The 2022 primary also had a higher than expected turnout. Elections Director Julie Haertsch said 90,588 voted in the May 17 primary, a 29.55% turnout.

"I don't know if it's the highest primary turnout, but certainly approaching 30% in a primary election is encouraging," President Commissioner Julie Wheeler said, before the unanimous vote to certify the results.

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According to Haertsch, 19,400 of the votes casted were mail-in ballots. That's a percentage of 21.41%.

McCormick’s camp said it would request a hand recount in precincts where it believes there are abnormalities, such as large discrepancies between the number of votes cast in the GOP gubernatorial and Senate primaries, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. It would run concurrently with the statewide recount, the campaign said.

The campaign is initially requesting a hand recount in precincts in York, Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Erie, Lancaster, Monroe, Schuylkill, Delaware, Bucks and Westmoreland counties.

While Oz declared victory in the 2022 Republican primary, an automatic recount will determine the winner. York County's recount of those ballots started Tuesday, and it's anticipated to be completed by the end of the week.

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In York County, before the recount, Oz had received 18,989 votes to McCormick's 16,479. Kathy Barnette had received 14,802, good for third place. When the nominee is determined, they'll run against Lt. Governor John Fetterman to see who will replace outgoing Senator Pat Toomey.

Tuesday's certification starts a process that will see multiple Board of Elections meetings over the next few days:

• A meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday will be dedicated to the challenging of 21 provisional ballots. At the Board of Elections meeting May 25, the board voted to accept 264 of 402 potential provisional ballots, rejecting 117.
• The next meeting, on Friday at noon, will see the casting of lots. Board of Elections official Anne Mendoza said that is dedicated to tie breakers, mainly in the case of write-ins, though the department isn't sure how many ties that may need to be broken.
• Finally, a meeting on Saturday will see the final certification of the ballots, which should include the results of the Oz-McCormick race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator.

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All of the meetings of the Board of Elections are held at the York County Administrative Center, 28 East Market St., York. 

— Reach Matt Enright via email at menright@yorkdispatch.com or via Twitter at @Matthew_Enright.