Senator-elect David McCormick’s apparent victory over Senator Casey in the Pennsylvania contest won a major victory on Monday after the state Supreme Court reaffirmed that provisional and mail ballots with date or signature issues must be excluded from the recount effort. Mr. Casey had slowly narrowed the gap with Mr. McCormick as Democratic county commissioners allowed for the counting of those ballots to take place. 

Mr. Casey — who was declared the loser of the race by the Associated Press last week — is on track to lose his Senate seat by just about 20,000 votes out of nearly 7 million cast. Because Mr. McCormick is only winning the contest by about two-tenths of one percentage point, Pennsylvania will conduct a recount. Under state law, recounts are mandatory when the margin of victory falls within half a percent. 

Much attention was being paid to the recount underway at Bucks County, where Democrats were counting mail and provisional ballots that lack certain requirements like dates and verifiable signatures. One Bucks County commissioner, Diane Ellis-Marseglia, even said that she is aware she is violating state law by counting those ballots, though contended that counting votes is more important than staying within the bounds of the law or court decisions. 

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” Ms. Ellis-Marseglia said at a county commissioner meeting, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”

The lawsuit to stop the counting of those ballots was filed by Mr. McCormick and the Republican National Committee.

“No more excuses,” said the chairman of the RNC, Michael Whatley, after the court’s decision was issued. “Election officials in Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and other counties have absolutely no choice.

In response to Bucks County’s actions — and the actions of other Democratic-led counties — on counting mail and provisional ballots, Mr. McCormick has filed several lawsuits against election officials to stop the counting of those ballots. 

Many have come out against the Democrats’ tactics trying to get Mr. Casey over the finish line. Even the Washington Post editorial board — which made a fuss shortly before the election when it was barred from endorsing Vice President Harris by owner Jeff Bezos — came out against the Democrats’ illegal ballot-counting efforts at Bucks County.

“Democrats would surely protest if a Republican commissioner made the same statement to justify tipping the scales for their party’s Senate nominee — and they would be right. Elections need rules, established in advance of the voting, and those rules must be applied equally and consistently,” the editorial board said. 

Senate Republicans have already welcomed Mr. McCormick as their new colleague, with the senator-elect attending new member orientation on Capitol Hill last week. Senator Lee has been beating the Pennsylvania drum for days, declaring that Mr. McCormick did, in fact, win his seat and that the recount will not provide enough votes for the Democrats to overtake his lead. Over the weekend, Mr. Lee went a step further, saying the Republican Senate majority could refuse to seat Mr. Casey if, by some miracle, he was able to catch up to Mr. McCormick. 

“If Bob Casey doesn’t concede, Pennsylvania keeps counting illegal votes, & Casey relies on those votes to claim victory, the Senate could refuse to seat him,” Mr. Lee wrote. “Article I, Sec. 5, Cl. 1: ‘Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.’”

Mr. Casey’s Senate partner, Senator Fetterman, cautioned on Sunday that the recount was taking place as it should, and that people should be assured their votes will count. 

“It’s very, very close. And I guarantee you if Dave McCormick were in the opposite situation where he was down 15 to 17,000 votes, he would absolutely want to have every last vote counted as well,” Mr. Fetterman told WGAL, a local television station, on Monday. “And if Bob Casey comes up short, I can almost guarantee you that he’s going to do the right thing and concede.”