Refusal to accept reality is doing unquestionable damage to democracy

[DonViejo]

Philip Bump 48 mins ago

After a count and then a recount of votes in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Rita Hart trailed her opponent, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, by six votes — six votes out of nearly 400,000 cast.

There’s always some blurriness at the edges of elections, a space into which provisional ballots or improperly marked ballots or damaged ballots fall. Normally, the votes in this realm aren’t important; the margin of victory is robust enough that the gray zone does not matter. But on occasion, as in Iowa last year, those votes matter very much.

Hart challenged the result, asking the Democratic-led House to determine who should represent the district. Her attorney, Marc Elias, filed a brief contesting 22 edge-case ballots that he argued should have been included in the total, including a set of ballots that arrived in damaged envelopes. It was a potential test for Democrats in the House: Would they overturn the state-certified results to seat Hart? Would they play hardball to secure an extra seat that would pad their historically narrow margin in the chamber?

In late March, Hart rendered that question moot. She withdrew her complaint, pledging to focus on “ensuring the voices of Iowans who followed the law are not silenced” like those 22 voters at issue. But there’s a more important, broader message, too: Sometimes resolving an election and upholding confidence in the system requires accepting that the inherent uncertainty worked against you.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/refusal-to-accept-reality-is-doing-unquestionable-damage-to-democracy/ar-BB1gzEhx