Editorial: McCormick-Oz debacle is lawmakers' fault

The counting of the ballots ground the neck-and-neck race to a near halt, becoming contentious as the candidates argued over whose votes would be counted and whose wouldn’t.

If you think this is about David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz and the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate battle in Pennsylvania, you are right — although McCormick conceded Friday.

It’s also a problem that already existed and will continue to plague state elections if it isn’t addressed.

Before McCormick decided to leave Connecticut to come home to Pennsylvania and vie for the seat Sen. Pat Toomey is vacating, back in November 2020 when Oz still had his daily talk show, there was another close election being decided in Pennsylvania.

No, not the presidential race. The other one. The 45th state Senate district, where incumbent Democrat Jim Brewster was up against Republican challenger — and subsequently elected Westmoreland County district attorney — Nicole Ziccarelli.

The problem was how the district crossed county lines, putting its ballots in front of multiple boards of elections. In Allegheny County, the board was favoring counting mail-in ballots whether the space for the date on the envelope was filled in or not. In Westmoreland County, the board was more adamant that no date meant no vote because the rules weren’t followed.

It dragged on for months. Brewster appeared to be the winner, but the case went to court over the issue of which ballots counted. It came down to just 69 votes in Brewster’s favor, but GOP senators wouldn’t allow their colleague of 10 years to be sworn in Jan. 5. An eruption of ugly, partisan chaos occurred in the chamber instead.

“Our goal is to get it right, not get it fast,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County.

One year and five months later, the state Legislature has done neither.

The Senate race left the Republican Party tearing itself apart as McCormick and Oz were locked in a recount with McCormick pushing for all ballots to be counted and Oz’s camp saying no and simply declaring victory.

In contention were more than 800 undated ballots. Whether they should be counted is a separate issue from the recount, but it already has been complicated by a U.S. Supreme Court order from Justice Samuel Alito blocking the counting and a Thursday decision from Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer ordering that the ballots be counted.

While this storm of confusion is easy to blame on politics, that’s somewhat unfair to the candidates. They were trying to play by the rules — albeit with different interpretations.

The real issue is this was predictable — because it already happened. State lawmakers could have spent time taking action to sew up the holes that were made abundantly clear by the Brewster-Ziccarelli race. They didn’t, and that, more than anything either campaign or any of the courts or counties have done, is what has created the situation at hand.

The Legislature needs to spend less time arguing about settled elections and speculating about what-ifs in future elections. Instead, it needs to look at the actual problems that have been proven and fix them.