After county certified results were finished, tallies in Iowa’s Second Congressional District showed the race decided by fewer than 50 votes. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks leads by 47 votes over Democrat Rita Hart. The Hart campaign has requested a recount in all 24 counties in the district that covers southeast Iowa.

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer explains there will be a three-person board that oversees the recount process locally, “The recount board must count the ballots by hand if ballots were hand-counted on Election Day. Here in Washington County we used voting equipment. So, what that means is that the recount board can request that the ballots be recounted by way of voting equipment, or they may have the ballots counted by hand, or they may conduct both hand counts and a recount by use of the voting equipment. So, it’s kind of their choice.” The three-member board includes a person appointed by each campaign and then an agreed upon third person. Widmer says Sandra Johnson, former mayor of Washington, and Sandra Greiner, former Iowa House Representative, are two who have been appointed and a third person has not yet been announced.

Widmer says the recount needs to be finished by December 1st, when the state certifies election results. The race is so tight that both Miller-Meeks and Hart are taking part in the training for newly elected members of congress. The seat is currently held by Democrat Dave Loebsack who did not seek re-election.