Recently, the Daily printed an article stating (Incumbent Win Close Election, Nov. 8 print edition). The gist of the article was the local state representative elections were not called soon after 9 p.m. because they were too close to call — this is incredibly inaccurate. The elections were, in fact, not too close to call whatsoever. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell won with 59 percent and Lisa Heddens won with 63 percent of the vote, which is a supermajority, not even in the ballpark of close. Plus, the reason the election did not get called right away was a product of long lines, some going an hour past when the polls close, not to mention early votes being counted even later.

Another significant error in the article is the balance of Democrats vs. Republicans in the Iowa Legislature. The article states: “The Republicans will remain in control in the House of Representatives with 59 seats to the Democrats’ 40 seats and one seat still vacant.” In fact, the Republicans are down to 52 seats and Democrats have gained to 47 seats. One seat (HD 43 Judkins/Hagenow) remains undecided due to a truly close race (difference of 29 votes) in suburban Des Moines. Also they stated Wessel-Kroeschell was going on her fourth term, it is actually her fifth term in the house.

The Daily should double check its facts before making such assertions in the future. Also, maybe instead of incorrectly blaming the results delay on being too close to call, maybe they should look into why there were long lines, which was the real reason for the delay.