HARRISBURG, Pa. — Days into the recount in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, the margin hasn’t changed by much.
A little more than 16,000 votes separated the two candidates on Thursday.
Several counties have completed their recounts, reporting single-digit swings in the tallies.
Some favored Incumbent Democratic Senator Casey, with others favoring Republican Dave McCormick, who was projected to be the winner by the Associated Press.
Casey’s campaign claims McCormick is trying to disenfranchise voters in the courts, while the McCormick camp insists Casey will not have enough votes to change the results.
"You may see a few votes shift either way, but typically, a number like 17,000 would be outside of the range of what you would typically see," said Berwood Yost, director of Franklin & Marshall College Center for Opinion Research.
While the margin between McCormick and Casey is much thinner than the more than 120,000 votes separating President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Casey could have made up all the ground he needed had he performed as well as Harris in one Pennsylvania county.
"If you look at Philadelphia alone, Casey underperformed Kamala Harris by 26,000 votes," Yost said.
As is, the race fell within a 0.5% margin, automatically triggering the statewide recount.
The Department of State estimates it will cost taxpayers more than $1 million to complete.
"The campaigns can turn it down, which they’ve decided not to," said Dr. Dan Mallinson, associate professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg. "This kind of recount- because it’s required by law- the Commonwealth pays for it. So the taxpayers will be footing the bill."
Adding to the contentious nature of the race, the campaigns have been battling in court, contesting the validity of certain ballots.
Judges must now answer questions the legislature failed to address ahead of the election.
"Change the law," Yost said. "Allow counties to have specific guidelines to follow. Don’t leave it up to them to decide. All of those decisions could be handled legislatively, and they should be because this is avoidable."
Counties must complete the recount by next Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt is expected to receive the final results the following day.