Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes, speaking for the Pennsylvania Department of State says Jonathan A. Saidel, a candidate for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary, has asked that a recount not be actioned in the close race.
Unofficial returns in the primary election held on May 18 show that Saidel trailed H. Scott Conklin by less than one-half of one percent of the total number of votes cast for the office. A race that close would normally trigger an automatic recount in all 67 counties.
The estimated the cost of such a recount would exceed $500,000, the Department of State says.
“I salute Jonathan Saidel for making this difficult decision in order to save Pennsylvania’s taxpayers a substantial amount of money,” Cortes said. “During these historically challenging financial times, every dollar is important to the continuation of programs that serve the public. I thank Mr. Saidel for putting our residents’ interests ahead of his own aspirations.”
Both Conklin and Saidel received the two highest vote totals among Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor. At 4 p.m. today, it was reported that he total number of votes cast for the office was 901,966 votes. That means one-half of 1 percent, the recount trigger, is 4,509 votes.
The unofficial returns provided by the counties as of 4 p.m. today show
Conklin had 3,846 more votes than Saidel. Saidel was the only candidate who got within the one-half of one percent margin of the leader.
-- H. Scott Conklin - 318,489 votes
-- Jonathan A. Saidel - 314,643 votes (trails Conklin by 3,846 votes)
-- Doris A. Smith-Ribner - 268,834 votes (trails Conklin by 49,655 votes)
The Pennsylvania Department of State provided more information on its website, www.dos.state.pa.us and also at www.VotesPA.com.
