A report by a state Senate committee reviewing 44 disputed ballots in the District 16 race ends the controversy but likely not the acrimony. The results give the Democrats, as expected, a sweep of the House, Senate and Blaine House, and it means that Republicans’ best chance of exerting influence in Augusta is to appeal to the public by concentrating on policy.

Thirty-six of the 44 disputed ballots, it is important to note, were settled by unanimous agreement by the Senatorial Vote Committee, which had an extremely difficult job. Its members – Sens. Paul Davis of Sangerville, Arthur Mayo of Bath and Carol Weston of Montville for the Republicans; Sens. Beth Edmonds of Freeport, the chairwoman of the panel, Kenneth Gagnon of Waterville, Neria Douglass of Auburn and Bruce Bryant of Dixfield, for the Democrats – deserve the full Senate’s thanks. But it is impossible not to notice that the eight ballots in which the panel had a divided decision all went to the Democrat, Chris Hall of Bristol, who appears to have won this race by seven votes. Two of the eight were decided by 6-1 committee counts, which means that at least two Republicans agreed with those decisions that represented a tiny margin of victory for Mr. Hall even if the other split votes are disregarded.

Senate Republican Leader Davis remains unhappy with the process and points out that the GOP members of the committee did not agree on how split votes were to be counted and believes the committee improperly disregarded precedent in recounting ballots, including precedent from a Senate recount last March. Despite reports to the contrary, the members of the committee did not unanimously support the final outcome of their work, he said, which will be sent to the Senate for a full vote. The Republican concern about the process was well known and well expressed. The GOP earlier wanted to make the ballots available for public inspection and proposed to ask for state supreme court intervention in the process. A summary of the ballots, with the nature of the dispute and its resolution, is publicly available.

If there were more time, the issues raised by the GOP leader could be protested until the party got the resolution it desired. But there is not enough time, just as there is not enough revenue for the expected budget or enough progress on tax reform, advancement of higher education or health care reform. Make no mistake: Counting ballots accurately is an important issue, but it is also one without a venue for protest right now and other issues are equally pressing and have an opportunity for resolution.

In discussing his lack of party affiliation, Gov. King recently observed of his time in Augusta. “One of the shocking things to me since I’ve been here has been the depth and virulence of sheer partisanship. … This idea that an idea is a good idea because it’s a Republican one and a bad idea because it’s a Democratic one or vice versa is just nonsense and it doesn’t serve the public.” In fact, it often does the opposite, and it is bred not by the natural and healthy competition that should exist among ideas but from hurt feelings and the desire for party domination over policy domination.

In a state government dominated by Democrats, Republican voices are needed more than ever to challenge, to propose alternatives, to prevent Maine from accepting the majority view simply because it is the majority. The best way to be heard on this is to choose debates in which there remains a chance to change minds. That seems unlikely in the question over ballots.