Hawkeye Reporter

The Democrats of the House Administration Committee has challenged Iowa GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meek's seat.

Miller-Meeks who had initially 'lost' the election to Democrat Rita Hart, won with six votes after an official recount. Iowa officials certified the recount of nearly 400,000 votes.

Hart has called for the reversal of the recount, claiming 22 votes were not counted, which could have made her the winner by nine votes. She has since made a formal plea to the administration panel, which oversees federal election procedures.

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the ranking Republican on the panel said Hart had sidestepped the law.

“Instead, she has decided to sidestep Iowa law and ask this House to decide this election for Iowa voters. Taking up this election contest would set a dangerous precedent that candidates don’t have to exhaust their legal options through the state and can instead go straight to Congress if they don’t like the outcome of an election,” Davis told the committee during a discussion of the two resolutions according to The Epoch Times. 

“I can’t think of a worse first step this committee could take in this Congress than to waste taxpayer dollars by moving forward with overturning this election,” Davis said.

“We know every legal vote was counted in Iowa’s second district because they were counted and recounted using a timely, transparent and bipartisan process and congresswoman Miller-Meeks never trailed in any of the recounts.

“Just to be clear, there are no provisional members of Congress. If you are sworn in and given the right to cast a vote on the House floor, you are a duly elected Member of Congress, just like Congresswoman Miller-Meeks,” he added.

Miller-Meeks was sworn in the 117th Congress by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Jan. 3 together with other members of Congress. She has participated and voted on issues in Congress, including Trump's impeachment which she was against.

Democrats on the administration panel approved two resolutions on Feb. 19 establishing the procedure by which Hart’s challenge will be heard. No Republicans objected and if Democrats continue, Miller-Meeks could lose her seat.

Brian Stihl (R-Wis.) voiced his opinion against this, telling The Epoch Times on Feb. 24 that “Congresswoman Miller-Meeks has been certified as the winner of the election by the Secretary of State of Iowa. Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats must honor the decision of the voters in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.”

With the new resolutions, the administration panel can override Iowa laws and conduct hearings, call witnesses, accept evidence and even use its own rules to conduct recounts, accept or reject ballots. With them owning the majority of the House, 221–211, it will not be difficult to unseat Miller-Meeks.

If this happens, it will be the first time since 1985 when then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) approved the reversal of state-certified election winner Republican Rep. Rick McIntyre. The battle which is now known as Indiana’s “Bloody Eighth” and is widely thought to have launched the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Congress that continues to the present day, The Epoch Times reports, and this present wrangle could further divide Congress.