Whose Blood is Curdling?

I read with interest Bruce Gelder’s March 27 letter about the Miller-Meeks-Hart election. Couple of things:

The idea Rita Hart would “roll the dice,” like at a craps table at a casino, is laughable. As she repeated, the Iowa process allowed inadequate time for effective consideration. Pursuing a recount of Iowa’s Second District in the U.S. House of Representatives is legal.

The U.S. Constitution is clear. Article I, Section 5 says, “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.” The Federal Contested Election Act of 1969 identified a procedure for close races like this one. Scores of contested elections have been pursued in the House.

Hart’s appeal sets no precedents, as Gelder suggests. Any chaos being created is from a Republican noise machine expressing their perceived mistreatment. It’s like Democrats shouldn’t be given consideration because Republicans believe they won the election and that should be that.

The majority of election contests pursued by the House were dismissed. To gain consideration, the state must first certify results. The only “blood curdling” is occurring in Republican veins. They wish Democrats would just go away and not insist on our rights. That’s not likely.

Published in the March 31, 2021 edition of the Iowa City Press Citizen