UPDATE, 1:50 p.m.: Pedro Cortes, Department of State secretary, on Wednesday extended the time for Saidel to ask the state to halt a recount until Thursday at 4 p.m., a move to allow the state to tally the nearly 4,000 still-uncounted absentee and provision ballots cast in the race.

Saidel, in a statement earlier in the day, said the uncounted ballots were one reason he wanted the state to go through with the recount, which is automatically triggered unless the losing candidate deems it unnecessary. The extension appears to be an effort to possibly forgo a recount if, after all the uncounted votes are tallied, Saidel decides he can’t win.

But it appears highly unlikely that the absentee and provisional ballots alone will put Saidel over the top. The state has only 3,927 of the uncounted ballots while the former Philadelphia controller trails by 3,840 votes. In addition, many of the uncounted votes were cast for the Republican primary, and Conklin will also receive support from the outstanding ballots.

Saidel must hope the new votes help him close the gap enough that mistakes found during the recount could put him over the top.

But the drawn-out process isn’t bothering Conklin, who emphasized during a brief interview with PoliticsPA on Wednesday afternoon that he respects his opponent’s right to ask for a recount. The lawmaker also said he remained confident of victory.

“When you look at the last recount, during last year’s judicial election, it changed only about 100 votes,” he said.

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Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Jonathan Saidel said Wednesday that he will not request the Department of State halt its mandated recount of his race against opponent Scott Conklin.

Saidel, who trails Conklin by about 3,900 votes in an unofficial tally provided by the department Tuesday, had the option to stop a recount as the losing candidate if he so chose by noon Wednesday. A recount is automatically triggered when less than one-half of one percent separate the top two candidates, which, in this case, is 4,507 votes.

“State law provides for an automatic recount to ensure that Pennsylvania elections respect the highest principles of our democracy,” Saidel said in a statement. “In that spirit, and out of respect to the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who placed their trust in me this election, I believe a recount is in the best interest of our political system and we look forward to participating in the process as it moves forward.”

The Philadelphia attorney said he believed 4,000 absentee and provisional ballots, many of them from the Philadelphia area, had yet to be counted.