The candidates vying for the fourth seat up for grabs on the Pennsylvania Superior Court are separated by just 0.2 percentage points, which means it is likely the Department of State will have to conduct a recount that could cost more than $1 million.

A final decision on the need for such an occurrence will be made on Tuesday, after each county verifies its election results, said Charlie Young, a spokesman with the department of state.

A recount is triggered when the winner of a race is separated from other candidates by less than one-half of 1 percent. That statute went into effect in 2004 following another hotly contested Superior Court race.

In this instance, four candidates are within that margin: Philadelphia County Common Pleas Judge Anne E. Lazarus; Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Robert J. Colville; Mt. Lebanon Attorney Temp Smith and Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Kevin F. McCarthy.

With 99.3 percent of the vote counted, Judge Judy Olson, an Allegheny County Republican, led the entire pack with 15.1 percent of the vote.

She was followed by fellow Republicans Sallie Mundy, of Tioga County, at 13.7 percent, and West Chester County Judge Paula Ott, with 12.7 percent.

But the fight for the fourth seat was much closer.

Judge Lazarus, a Democrat, was in the lead with 1,520 votes more than Judge Colville. She had 12,000 votes more than Mr. McCarthy.

Yesterday, Judge Lazarus thought her lead looked like it should hold out.

"I think the numbers are pretty solid," she said. "I'm being cautiously optimistic."

For Judge Colville, who had the smallest margin to overcome, he did not anticipate the lead changing.

"The truth be told, we had a great field," said Judge Colville, also a Democrat. "I was proud to run alongside them. I can't be disappointed to have lost to a really fine, distinguished group of individuals."

But Mr. McCarthy continued to hold out hope that a recount could change the results.

"The potential for the movement of votes is there," the Democrat said.

Chris Bonneau, a political science professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in judicial elections, said it's unusual to have a recount like this, and he suspects the results aren't likely to change.

"It seems like a really large number to pick up that much," he said.

Mr. McCarthy attributed the close fight for the fourth seat on television advertising -- or the lack of it.

"I suspect the use of television advertising by the Republican women was very effective in putting them ahead," Mr. McCarthy said. "Those of us who didn't have it all seemed to bunch together. As far as the public's concerned, we're just names on the ballot."

Mr. Smith referred calls to his campaign manager, who referred calls to the state Republican committee.

If a recount is necessary, Mr. Young said it could cost more than $1.3 million, which would be paid by the state. All nine candidates in the race will have their vote totals recounted.

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