Dem-backed recount for House race set to cost taxpayers $20K despite GOPers insurmountable lead
Taxpayers in Iowa could be on the hook for as much as $20,000 for a Democrat-backed recount in the 1st Congressional District — despite local officials privately feeling that incumbent Rep.Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ lead is “insurmountable.”Miller-Meeks, 69, had an 801-vote lead when the recount began last week.
Since then, her lead against Democrat Christina Bohannan, 53, who requested the recount after her second projected loss to the Iowa Republican, has slipped to just 798 votes, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.“It was ridiculous.
Actually, it was pretty disrespectful, I think, to the taxpayers and to the auditors’ offices,” Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise reflected to The Post.“I know that it’s not going to be a different outcome.
That’s just very silly.”The House GOP’s official campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, estimated that as of Monday night, the total cost of the recount was about $18,441 and anticipated the cost would swell to $20,000 by Wednesday based on the labor costs for tallying up the votes again.By law, Fraise’s team as well as the other 19 counties, is required to forge ahead with the recount despite the overwhelming odds that it wouldn’t alter the result.
Under Iowa state law, a candidate can request a recount under any threshold.However, when the margin of the race is 1% or lower, the aspirant requesting it will not have to pony up the bond for it, the Secretary of State’s office told The Post.“This is a delaying tactic to thwart the will of the people.
A recount won’t meaningfully change the outcome of this race as the congresswoman’s lead is mathematically impossible to overcome,” Miller-Meeks’ team told The Post.“Mariannette was humbled to win the support of the majority of voters and we remain confident Mariannette Miller-Meeks has been re-elected to a third term.”The race has one of the closest results for House contests in the country.
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