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Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart have been involved in the tightest House race of this election in Iowa’s 2nd congressional district. On election night, Miller-Meeks was up by 282 votes out of nearly 400,000 cast and declared that she was the winner: Miller-Meeks took to the stage at her election night event, even as counting was incomplete, after midnight Wednesday morning to claim victory. “We know this has been a long night, and we knew this was going to be a very tight race, and we wouldn’t know results until later, but with 282 votes from the Secretary of State’s Office ahead of our opponent, you are now looking at the new congresswoman from the 2nd Congressional District of Iowa,” Miller-Meeks said. Iowa officials announced they would “canvas” the vote on November 10 and after that either candidate could request a recount. But it turned out the drama in Iowa-2 was just beginning. On the Thursday after the election, an auditor discovered a mistake in Jasper County: After all counties had reported their results, Miller-Meeks was ahead by 282 votes. But Friday morning, the results updated after the Jasper County Auditor’s Office reported a single precinct had overcounted: The Clear Creek-Poweshiek precinct had reported nearly double the actual 400 ballots cast there for Miller-Meeks. “Thursday, I started looking at the report and thought, ‘Oh boy,’” Deputy Auditor Tina Mulgrew said Monday.
