The battle for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor remains up in the air on the day after the primary election.
With 99 percent of the vote counted, state Rep. H. Scott Conklin of Centre County leads former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel by 4,834 votes, a fraction of 1 percent.
Saidel, who was the party-endorsed candidate in the race, said: "It appears more than 70 precincts have not been included in the vote count for lieutenant governor, leaving the final outcome in question.
"As we understand it," Saidel said, "it is the prerogative of the Pennsylvania secretary of state to proceed with a recount. State election law provides for a process that will guarantee every vote is counted and tallied correctly."
The Saidel camp said most of the uncounted precincts are in Philadelphia and Delaware County.
Charlie Young, spokesman for the Department of State, said the initial count has to be completed before any recount can be contemplated. All counties must submit their unofficial results to Harrisburg by Tuesday; a decision on a recount would be made by May 27. A recount is automatic if the vote difference is less than 0.5 percent.
The two Philadelphia candidates in the race - Saidel and former Commonwealth Court Judge Doris-Smith Ribner - got 65 percent of the 894,000 votes in the race.
With 9,165 of 9,233 precincts counted, the vote looks like this:
Conklin, 316,437 - 35 percent
Saidel, 311,603 - 35 percent
Smith-Ribner, 266,479 - 30 percent