This space in the Sunday Register before presidential elections has often been given uplifting encouragements to vote. To participate, to play our part in the governance process.

Iowans should absolutely exercise that right. For eligible voters, it’s not too late until the polls close at 8 p.m. Nov. 5 – Iowa allows same day voter registration as long as a person has either the correct documents or a registered voter from the same constituency to attest to them.

More: Missed the Iowa Voter Registration Deadline? You can still register to vote at the polls

But voting is not the end of a citizen’s responsibility. Orderly democracy demands that supporters of the losing candidate face facts and acknowledge, vocally or silently, that the other person will be sworn in in January. In other words, it is timely to advocate strongly for the correct counting of ballots and judicial review of potential irregularities. But when those processes are exhausted, it’s time to accept the outcome and stop sniping.

This isn’t the other usual editorial board bromance to put our differences aside and come together after a bruising election. It is an expression of severe alarm about insinuations already proclaimed—and in some cases loud declarations — that a certain outcome in the presidential race is presumptively illegitimate.

Democracy sometimes means moving forward without settling every last thing

America’s election machine is good at collecting all eligible votes and counting only those. Small discrepancies usually result from error, not fraud. Accusations to the contrary are numerous, but evidence is lacking. Even when the process is not perfectly clean, acknowledging the result is the right move. The alternative is frightening: the rapid escalation from “the will of eligible participating voters was not reflected” to “declared winners lack legitimacy” to “extralegal maneuvers or even political violence may be necessary to sustain democracy.”

As tumultuous as American politics is right now, it’s absurd to pretend that the only potential next steps are abandoning the rule of law or starting a rebellion.

American elections are not rigged like what we see in Russia and elsewhere. Kamala Harris vs. Expected Race Margins Donald Trump are extremely tight. Like many others, we will quote Al Gore’s statesman in 2000 because his actions matched exactly what was required. The Democrat and his team have made their mark in the political and legal sphere. These lawsuits led to Gore losing at the US Supreme Court and in Florida, at which point he graciously conceded.

It is noteworthy that in December 2000 it was not established that George W. Bush had indisputably won more votes in Florida; the challenges ended because the established rules for contesting the result had run their course and Gore got the short end of the stick. Unfortunately, the Democrats contested the result at the January 6 electoral vote certification. But Bush was inaugurated two weeks later, and that was the end of it. If Tuesday’s election comes down to narrow margins in one or more states with votes painstakingly counted and recounted over the course of days, litigation is in order. But this has to be.

The events of late 2020 and 2021 after Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden show the bitter fruit of not accepting the election results. What I’ve learned since January 2021 only underscores how horrific and dangerous the Trump-inspired siege of the US Capitol was as I watched it unfold in real time. The most generous interpretation of the reason for the riot is that the protesters wrongly equated dissatisfaction with the changes to the voting procedure related to COVID with evidence of fraud and disenfranchisement. A more plausible interpretation is that Trump and his team never intended to let Americans elect Biden. Such a strategy is never acceptable.

If Trump does not win a second term, this time he will have the opportunity to make good and, after exhausting legal challenges, retire without further challenge. Harris must make the same right choice if he loses.

The US electoral apparatus is reliable

It is difficult to analyze the wave of polls and early voting data about the November 5th vote. But if either Harris or Trump emerges as the apparent winner, anyone who says “this outcome is impossible” is lying. The edge can be razor thin. And each campaign has a more than ample horde of watchers and advocates to challenge their interests over the next few weeks. But when the dust has settled, elected officials should get to work on behalf of their constituents. Citizens should seek credible information and not conclude that every decision signals the end of democracy as we know it.

When the dust has settled, elected officials should get to work on behalf of their constituents. Citizens should seek credible information. Do not assume that all statements are true. Don’t jump to the conclusion that every development signals the end of democracy as we know it.

We do not claim to predict the future. But we are confident in saying that Iowans and all Americans should feel good about the vast majority of people who are striving to hold free and fair elections and the mechanisms they have put in place to do so.

A free and fair choice can include big issues such as the recent burning of ballot boxes in the northwest, or whiplash over voter eligibility, as in Virginia. Or it may raise concerns such as those over the voting challenges here in Iowa. But news reports point to heroic efforts to locate voters whose ballots were destroyed and help them obtain new ballots. And the dispute over the removal of names from his Virginia voter rolls involves plausible motives on the part of competing parties. A free and fair election does not depend on whether or not the courts were right to side with Virginia.

We should all have learned a lot from the 2020 election and its aftermath. It is not inherently suspicious when advantages change due to new vote counts until the morning after election night or even in the days following. This is how vote counting works. Courts give litigants due process after elections and then make decisions we have to live with.

“Winning” is not the only aspect. Accept the result. The alternative is dangerous.

Lucas Grundmeier, on behalf of the Register’s editors

This editorial is the opinion of the Des Moines Register editorial board: Carol Hunter, executive editor; Lucas Grundmeier, opinion editor; and Richard Doak and Rox Laird, members of the editorial board.

Want more opinions? Read other perspectives with our free newsletter or visit us at DesMoinesRegister.com/opinion. Respond to any feedback by sending a letter to the editor at DesMoinesRegister.com/letters.

This article originally appeared on the Des Moines Register: Opinion: At some point, we all have to accept the outcome of an election