The Facts

• Republican Dave McCormick leads Democratic Senator Bob Casey by 17,408 votes with 99.7% of votes counted and 24,000 ballots remaining, triggering an automatic recount due to the margin being less than 0.5 percentage points.The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ruled, in a suit filed by the Republican National Committee and the state GOP, that counties must stop counting mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates on their outer envelopes, specifically directing Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties to comply.

• The court's decision came after several Democratic-led counties, including Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks, had voted to count undated ballots despite previous court rulings prohibiting the practice.This comes as Republican Dave McCormick leads Democratic US Sen. Bob Casey by 17,408 votes with 99.7% of votes counted and 24K ballots remaining. The Associated Press has called the election for McCormick, but an automatic recount has been triggered due to the margin being less than 0.5 percent.

• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's ruling was decided by a 4-3 vote, despite Democrats holding a 5-2 majority on the court, with three Democratic justices dissenting on grounds that court intervention was premature.Previously, officials in several Democratic-led counties — including Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks — voted to count undated ballots despite previous court rulings prohibiting the practice.