Attorneys for Democratic U.S. Representative candidate Rita Hart filed a petition with the House of Representatives, claiming they found enough uncounted votes to reverse the election results. Hart lost her seat in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District by six votes.
The initial count for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District showed Hart losing by 47 votes to Republican candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and after Hart requested a recount, she still lost to Miller-Meeks by six votes.
Hart’s petition was filed under the Federal Competitive Elections Act of 1969, and the petition asked the House of Representatives to initiate an investigation. Hart complained that there were 22 uncounted votes, including 18 for her, three for Miller-Meeks and one for no candidate.
Had those 22 votes been counted, Hart claimed she would have defeated Miller-Meeks by nine votes.
Local election officials believe the ballots are legal and valid, but state law says they will not be counted because they did not appear in the initial tally.
Miller-Meeks has 30 days to respond to Hart’s petition to the House of Representatives. The petition was written by Marc Elias, an attorney with the Washington law firm Perkins Coie, who regularly represents Democratic campaign committees and candidates.
The last time the House of Representatives refused to recognize a state-certified winner was in 1984, when a dispute over Indiana’s 8th District House seat resulted in House Democratic Speaker O’Neill certifying Democratic Rep. Frank McCloskey and rejecting Republican candidate Rick McIntyre for election.
McIntyre had already been certified as the winner by Indiana election officials, but McCloskey successfully petitioned O’Neill and House Majority Leader Jim Wright, a Democrat, and was able to flip the election.
The incident went back and forth for months and sparked an era of intense partisanship that continues to this day.
Tensions have risen in Iowa and in the House of Representatives as a result of Hart’s petition.
“Everyone acknowledges that there are still uncounted ballots, and after reviewing those ballots and determining the count, it’s clear that I have won this election.” Hart said in a statement accompanying his petition to the House of Representatives.
“It is critical for me to ensure fair bipartisan scrutiny of the U.S. House of Representatives. Iowans deserve to know that the candidate who wins the most votes takes office.” Hart said.
In a video posted to social media, Miller-Meeks responded that Hart pursued “partisan power plays” and noted that “every vote is counted and recounted according to Iowa law.”
Miller-Meeks went on to say that Hart is seeking to win the election in a partisan, perverse way; that Iowans have spoken, that Rita Hart should listen, and that she should trust and respect Iowa’s decision.
Attorney Erias told reporters that it was not an exaggeration, nor was it a partisan issue, but only a question of whether the votes should be counted.
Iowa’s two Republican senators, Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, issued a statement on Dec. 22 blasting Hart’s decision to file a petition with the House of Representatives.
“If Rita Hart had any legal objections, she could have taken her case to the Iowa Independent Judicial Panel for relief. She chose not to do so. Rita Hart is seeking a partisan political solution to a nonpartisan democratic process problem by going to Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to repair her election losses.” The statement said.
Recent Comments