OPINION:
House Democrats seem determined to overturn the results of a fair and free election that wasn’t decided in their favor.
Last week, Iowa Democrat Rita Hart officially contested Iowa’s Second Congressional District election, asking the U.S. House of Representatives to disregard the state’s election officials and redo the ballot count.
Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks narrowly won the contest — which was certified by the state last month — by six votes. Every ballot was counted in accordance with Iowa law, went into a recount and was approved unanimously by a bipartisan board.
Mrs. Hart argues there are “at least” 22 lawful ballots that were left out of the count and has requested a “hand recount of every ballot” overseen by the House of Representatives to prove her point and unseat Mrs. Miller-Meeks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who is presiding over one of the slimmest House majorities in decades — was all too happy to oblige. This coming from a woman who slammed former President Donald J. Trump’s lawsuits contesting election results in several states as trying to “overturn the will of millions of American voters.”
The last time a seated House member was overturned by the House was in 1985 in Indiana’s “bloody eighth.” The time before that was in 1938 — in both instances Democrats were in control of the House.
In Iowa’s case, Mrs. Hart is clearly trying to upend Iowa state election law. As Mrs. Miller-Meek’s team has argued, Mrs. Hart could’ve contested the result in December before a special Iowa court with the purpose of resolving contested elections but declined to. She waited until Mrs. Pelosi was in full control, to take her case directly to the partisan majority.
Last week, Democrats in the House sided with Mrs. Hart and suspended Mrs. Miller-Meek’s move to dismiss. Mrs. Pelosi defended the decision over the weekend reiterating the House has the power to seat its members and that an investigation would proceed.
So now, Mrs. Pelosi — not the voters in Iowa — will be making the rules. Even though Mrs. Miller-Meeks is a legally elected representative, she will be forced to defend her position. Instead of being litigated by an Iowa court — which is fluent in Iowa’s ballot signatures and seals — it will be partisan Democrats in Washington determining what votes are lawful or unlawful.
“States should rule their election, voters in that state should decide who represents them,” Mrs. Miller-Meeks told Fox News on Friday. “This is a process where they want to go against the laws of our state, the election laws of our state, against the voters of our state, and to determine who they want to seat in Congress.”
Democrats only care about defending “free and fair” elections when they win. This naked power play in Iowa demonstrates they have no reservations whatsoever in undermining state certified election results if it’s in their political interest to do so.
The move will only ratchet up political divisiveness and further erode confidence in our electoral system.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.