Democrats led by Speaker Pelosi are working to overturn the results of a House election in Iowa by ousting the elected Republican Representative.
Democrat candidate Rita Hart lost to GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by six votes.
Miller-Meeks was seated after Iowa's secretary of state certified the election.
California Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who chairs the Administration panel, is working with Pelosi to investigate and ultimately change the results of the election.
Background on the dispute from Politico:
“Hart’s argument centers on 22 ballots her campaign says were not counted but should have been — and which would have led to her victory had they been included in the final vote tally. WSJ’s Kristina Peterson has an overview: “[S]ome … were cast through curbside voting but not accepted by the voting machine; absentee ballots that weren’t counted because they were in a box that was marked with a lower number of ballots than it actually contained, leading to confusion; and one absentee ballot that wasn’t counted because the signature was in the wrong location on the envelope.” In another situation, the voter taped her ballot shut so it was discarded.
GOP defense attorney ALAN OSTERGREN says that each of those was discarded by bipartisan panels of election officials based on rules about how ballots are counted in the state. The House Admin Committee will dig into this in the coming days...
...Dangerous precedent? Republicans are already threatening that if Democrats do this, they’ll be blazing a path for future majorities to overrule state election results. What happens to election integrity if this becomes a regular thing?”
Attorneys for Miller-Meeks' attorneys argued the case should be immediately dismissed, while Hart argues the House Administration Committee considering the case should take into account ballots excluded due to poll worker or envelope errors.
Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst says "Rep. Miller-Meeks has been seated in Congress. She won this election. It was certified by Iowans ... and now Nancy Pelosi, perhaps, will overturn it. And that is horribly unfair to the voters in the second district in Iowa, and we are pushing back."
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is the first congressional Democrat to voice firm opposition to the push to have the House Administration Committee investigate the election and decide whether freshman Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks did indeed win the election.
He tweeted, “Losing a House election by six votes is painful for Democrats. But overturning it in the House would be even more painful for America. Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should.”