Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how an Idaho Senate panel turned itself into the equivalent of a court on Monday, hearing arguments, weighing evidence, and ultimately rejecting a challenge to the November election results in one eastern Idaho district.

The full Senate still has the final vote, but after the three-hour hearing Monday morning in the Senate State Affairs Committee, the committee’s vote was unanimous, and it will recommend that the full Senate also reject the formal contest of the election results. It’s only the third time in Idaho history that the Senate has faced such a challenge; the state Constitution puts it, not the courts, in charge of weighing challenges to Senate election results.