An attorney for Democratic US House candidate Rita Hart is defending Hart’s decision to appeal her six vote defeat in last November’s election to a US House committee, rather than through the Iowa court system.  Marc Elias says Hart’s decision to skip the Iowa courts will not set a bad precedent.

“I just don’t think that’s true.  I think that the House remains a forum for contests where there are extremely close elections and where it is the most logical and fairest venue for them to be resolved.”

The Hart camp says it found 22 votes that should have been counted during the recount following the November election, and if they had been, Hart would have defeated Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks for the Second District Congressional seat.