In 2000, George W. Bush beat Al Gore with one state, Florida, and the election came down to just 537 votes. The recount and legal battle took six weeks to decide, and the recount was stopped by the Supreme Court rather than finished. In Iowa, Democratic candidate for an open seat in Congress Rita Hart lost her election in the second district by just six points, and today she asked the state’s Supreme Court to review the loss. Republicans had the absolute gall to get upset when those challenges were announced.
This is the same Republican Party who has had little to say about Donald Trump demanding that the presidential election be overturned even though he lost by more than seven million popular votes and 74 electoral college votes. The GOP that still supports Trump have tried to compare these cases to Trump’s although there are absolutely no similarities.
Democrat Rita Hart, who fell six votes short of winning an open Iowa seat, formally contested her loss with the U.S. House this morning. https://t.co/tvdydsTzMz
— POLITICO (@politico) December 22, 2020
It is feasible to believe that either a vote counting machine or human election workers counting by hand could make a mistake in a race as close as Hart had against the GOP challenger who has been declared the winner of their race, Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Hart’s challenge involves 15 votes that were wrongfully not counted.
‘Democrat Rita Hart asked the U.S. House on Tuesday to investigate and overturn the race that Iowa says she lost by six votes, arguing that 22 ballots were wrongly excluded and others weren’t examined during the recount.
‘In a notice of contest, Hart argued that she would have netted 15 votes and defeated Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks had the 22 ballots been tallied in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.’
Today, I am officially asking the House to ensure every Iowan's voice is heard in #IA02.
22 ballots remain uncounted from Election Night & thousands of others that were never examined. We've got to count the votes & get this right. pic.twitter.com/hWTsUDHkhy
— Rita Hart (@RitaHartIA) December 22, 2020
Marc Elias, an American attorney who specializes in election laws and represents Hart, said that overturning the election results is a slim to nothing possibility, but that it’s important to fight it out, regardless. According to the Associated Press, Elias said:
‘Although it is admittedly tempting to close the curtain on the 2020 election cycle, prematurely ending this contest would disenfranchise Iowa voters and award the congressional seat to the candidate who received fewer lawful votes.’
Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks beat Democrat Rita Hart in Iowa's 2nd District.
Now, Pelosi and Hart are trying to steal the seat.
No wonder Iowa rejected Rita Hart—Hart puts her loyalty to Pelosi ahead of Iowa.
This is an unlawful disgrace. https://t.co/PdLnXqx8y2
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) December 18, 2020
Republicans like Joni Ernst and Tom Cotton, neither of whom have spoken out against Trump’s attempts to actually thwart democracy, were quick to fire off condemning tweets about Hart’s challenge.
‘Hart’s challenge is potentially awkward for both parties. Many Republicans supported or were silent as President Donald Trump waged a baseless drive to overturn results in several states he lost in an unsuccessful bid to reverse his reelection defeat. They stressed that every legal vote should count, the same argument Hart is making. Democrats, meanwhile, cited state certification of vote results among many reasons why Trump should concede.’
NEW: I joined @ChuckGrassley & Reps.-elect Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra in urging leaders of the House of Representatives and House Committee on Administration to reject Rita Hart’s contest of election results in Iowa’s second congressional district. pic.twitter.com/BscfVxtjdB
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) December 16, 2020
Featured image screenshot via littlemag.com via Zack Neumann/Little Village
