How a contest of election results works…

Under the Idaho Constitution, the Senate itself is the judge in the case of a formal contest of Senate election results. So without comment, the Senate today received and filed the complaint from the election opponent of Sen. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello’s. Under a process laid out in state statute, discovery related to the complaint will be compiled between now and Dec. 29. Then it will be gathered up, sealed, and delivered to the Idaho Secretary of State. On the second day of the legislative session in January, the sealed box will be presented to the Senate.

When this last happened, in 1980, the sealed box was given to the Senate State Affairs Committee, which reviewed its contents and made a recommendation to the full Senate that the complaint be dismissed; the full Senate agreed.