Fetterman and Dr. Oz cast their votes in Pennsylvania Senate race
Dressed for success? Dr. Oz and wife Lisa cast their midterm votes in Pennsylvania while Dem rival John Fetterman doesn’t take questions in gym shorts alongside wife Gisele – as legal battle explodes over ballots and voters scramble to fix mistakes
- Both Pennsylvania Senate hopefuls Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr.
Mehmet Oz cast their votes in person on Election Day morning
- Fetterman and his wife Gisele pulled up to their polling place in Braddock in a pick-up truck, with Fetterman sporting gym shorts and a blue puffer jacket
- His campaign told reporters he would not be answering questions at his polling site, as he wouldn’t be able to understand them due to his ongoing auditory processing issues – the after-effects from his May stroke
- Oz spoke to Fox & Friends and reporters at his Pennsylvania polling site in Huntingdon Valley
- Follow DailyMail.com’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections here
By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter In Braddock, Pennsylvania and Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 14:27, 8 November 2022 | Updated: 00:59, 9 November 2022
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Both Pennsylvania Senate candidates Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz were up early on Election Day to cast their ballots in one of the most closely watched races this midterm cycle.
Fetterman, wearing his trademark gym shorts and a blue puffer jacket, pulled up in a pick-up truck to his polling place in Braddock, outside of Pittsburgh, and cast his ballot alongside his wife Gisele.
Campaign aides for Fetterman warned reporters beforehand that he wouldn’t be taking questions, as he wouldn’t be able to understand the cacophony of shouts due to his ongoing auditory processing issues, the after-effects of the stroke he suffered in May.
‘Hey, hi,’ Fetterman said waving as he was asked how he was doing this morning and if Democrats would hold onto the Senate.
On the way out he grabbed hands with Gisele as the couple walked back to their truck.
Fetterman later tweeted out a picture of the couple with the words, ‘We voted.’
Oz and his wife Lisa voted at a polling place in Huntingdon Valley, with the TV personality sporting a suit and his wife a red dress.
The Republican talked to Fox & Friends and also some of the reporters gathered outside.
‘I’m very proud of how I’ve run this campaign.
Pennsylvania is sending a very clear message to Washington: We want less radicalism, and more balance. I encourage everyone to vote. It’s your duty,’ Oz said.
The two hopefuls are vying for the seat occupied by retiring Republican Sen.
Pat Toomey.
Even before Election Day, there were problems with votes cast in Pennsylvania.
Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman (left), wearing his trademark gym shorts and a blue puffer jacket, pulled up in a pick-up truck to his polling place in Braddock, outside of Pittsburgh, and cast his ballot alongside his wife Gisele (right)
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr.
Mehmet Oz and his wife Lisa cast their votes at Bryn Athyn Borough Hall, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Fetterman greeted a voter as he emerged from the polling station on Tuesday. He trails Oz by 0.1 percent in the Real Clear Politics polling average
Fetterman and his wife Gisele walk back to their car after casting their ballots on Tuesday morning in Braddock, Pennsylvania
Dr.
Mehmet Oz, joined by his wife Lisa, leaves a polling station in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday
Fetterman tweeted this photograph after voting
Due to the Republican National Committee and other GOP groups winning a lawsuit in state court that would make undated mail-in ballots not count, thousands of voters in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas were alerted they must ‘cure’ their ballots.
Election officials have advised these voters to come to the county election offices to cure their ballot, request a new mail-in ballot or vote by provisional ballot on Election Day to fix these mistakes.
Voters have until November 14 in Pennsylvania to ‘cure’ their ballot.
The Fetterman campaign has since filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the ruling, made by the divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
‘The Date Instruction imposes unnecessary hurdles that eligible Pennsylvanians must clear to exercise their most fundamental right, resulting in otherwise valid votes being arbitrarily rejected without any reciprocal benefit to the Commonwealth,’ attorneys for Fetterman and other Democratic groups argued.
‘The date on a mail ballot envelope thus has no bearing on a voter’s qualifications and serves no purpose other than to erect barriers to qualified voters exercising their fundamental constitutional right to vote.
This unnecessary impediment violates the Civil Rights Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution,’ they continued.
Additionally, a judge in Monroe County in Northeast Pennsylvania on Monday green-lit the way for voters to be alerted that their ballots had mistakes.
Also, just the counting of the mail-in ballots alone could take several days.
On Monday, Fetterman’s campaign manager sent a memo to reporters advising them to ‘buckle up for a long week.’
‘This race is close, and we should all be prepared for a process that takes several days before all eligible voters are properly counted and the results are clear,’ said Fetterman’s Campaign Manager Brendan McPhillips.
In Pennsylvania this election cycle, 1.4 million mail-in ballots were requested.
According to Spotlight PA, roughly 70 percent of those requests came from registered Democrats.
And the biggest share of requests came from Allegheny County, which surrounds Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.
Philadelphia’s suburban counties, including Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton, came after Allegheny and Philadelphia, in number of mail-in ballots requested.
Pennsylvania’s Republican-dominated legislature imposed a rule that won’t allow election workers to start counting the mail-in ballots until 7 a.m.
Tuesday morning – meaning results from in-person voting could likely be reported before those ballots that were mailed in.
After Fetterman’s rocky debate performance, Pennsylvania’s polls have narrowed further, with Oz taking a .1 percent lead in the Real Clear Politics polling average in the last four days, making the race a true toss-up
Fetterman’s campaign called this ‘an intentional move to help Republicans baselessly sow doubt about the election results when it suits them.’
Like in 2020, when former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden were on the ballot, Oz could look drastically ahead of Fetterman on election night, only to have his lead chipped away as more mail-in ballots are counted.
‘Because Pennsylvania is one of the only states that reports Election Day totals first before ballots cast by mail, and because more populated counties around Philadelphia can take longer to report, we should expect one of the most dramatic shifts in the country from initial GOP support in early results to stronger Democratic gains as more votes are processed,’ Fetterman’s campaign warned.
County officials in Allegheny, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties had originally told Spotlight PA they expected to be finished counting the mail-in ballots by Wednesday.
Now, Philadelphia could take even longer to report a result, as city commissioners imposed a procedure to catch double votes, as Republicans were suing if that safety check didn’t occur.
In Bucks County, an official estimated to Spotlight PA that the counting could be wrapped up by Wednesday or Thursday.
In Latrobe, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump already began stoking fears that the election would once be ‘stolen’ from Oz and GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who has been behind in the polls for months.
Trump expressed in Iowa on Thursday that all voting should be done in-person, on Election Day using paper ballots – the only way to guarantee there would be no fraud.
After Fetterman’s rocky debate performance, Pennsylvania’s polls have narrowed further, with Oz taking a .1 percent lead in the Real Clear Politics polling average in the last four days.
This makes the race a true toss-up, as droves of Pennsylvanians votes had already been cast by the time Fetterman and Oz met on the debate stage.
