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VERIFY: Yes, Congress can overturn the results of a Congressional election

It would take a lot of work though for the members of the new Congress to do that in the Mariannette Miller-Meeks vs. Rita Hart outcome.

QUESTION:

Can the U.S. House overturn the results of a Congressional election?

ANSWER:

Yes, but it would take a lot of work for the members in this new Congress to actually do that here. I looked through two different federal documents to find this out.

SOURCES: 

Chapter 12 of the Federal Contested Elections Act (FCEA)

WHAT'S GOING ON:

Two FCEA contests have been filed in the 117th Congress. One concerns Iowa's 2nd District. Democrat Rita Hart's campaign claims 22 'legally cast votes' have not been counted yet, and if they were, that would put her up by nine votes over Mariannette Miller-Meeks. The certified results from the state say Miller-Meeks won the race by six.

THE DISTRICT:

It covers southeastern Iowa, cities like Davenport, Burlington, and even Clinton.

THE PROCESS:

Rita Hart has to file a notice of the contest within 30 days of the results, which she already has. Then the Contestee, in this case Mariannette Miller-Meeks can respond. Miller-Meeks has responded by filing a motion to dismiss the contest. 

The Hart campaign can proceed by taking depositions, trying to get testimony to back up their claims.

"We expect the Committee on House Administration will take up the Contest and decide on the Motion to Dismiss (and we expect them to find that the Contest can proceed). The Committee took up the Contest in the Dornan/Sanchez case and we expect the same here," a campaign spokesman for Hart said Thursday, January 28th.

"After a decision on the Motion to Dismiss, Miller-Meeks will have 10 days to file her Answer to our Notice of Contest. At that point the investigation into the facts (“Discovery”) will take place. That could include depositions. The law gives the Committee latitude to alter this timeline," the spokesman said.

Because we're so early in the term of the new Congress, the House Administration committee hasn't organized and its members haven't been decided yet. 

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