Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone are neck and neck in the Pennsylvania special election for 18th Congressional District.
As of this writing, around 11:16 PM local time Tuesday, 99% or more than 200,000 votes have been counted. According to CNN, Lamb gained 111,875 votes (49.9%) while Saccone had 111,028 votes (49.5%). The Democratic candidate is ahead by 847 votes. The race is really tight.
The Democrats are seeking to flip the district, which was previously held by GOP Rep. Tim Murphy, who vacated his seat in the U.S. Congress due to a scandal. The woman whom Murphy was having an affair with alleged that he urged her to have an abortion. Murphy is well-known for his pro-life position.
Pennsylvania absentee ballots
Larry Spahr, the director of election for Washington County told CNN that they will count the absentee ballots tomorrow morning. According to him, the county received 1,195 absentee ballots.
Under Pennsylvania law, election officials are required to put the ballots in secure envelopes, and returned to the precincts where they came from. The election boards at those precincts will then return the ballots to the county, according to Spahr.
