Rep. Janet Mills defeated challenger Lance Harvell by 65 votes in the Nov. 2 election, or by less than 2 percent of the total vote.

Harvell is seeking a recount, which is wholly appropriate. Although we don’t expect the recount to change the outcome, the race was close enough so that a new tally would put to rest concerns about possible mistakes.

We differ with Harvell, however, on what he has called irregularities. About 1,500 new voters were registered in the district this year. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Both political parties expended a lot of time, energy and money to attract new voters to the polls. In District 89, many of the new voters were from the University of Maine at Farmington and registered on the day of the election.

According to state law, residents of Maine are entitled to register to vote on Election Day, and the Supreme Court has ruled that students – even though they tend to be transitory – have a right to vote where they live.

Harvell, himself, is a UMF student and likely drew significant support from members of the college community.

Harvell said he’d like to see an end to same-day registration and voting, as well as changes in the definition of residency. We strongly disagree. We should work to expand access, not to disenfranchise would-be voters.

Far from suggesting there’s anything wrong with UMF students and new voters participating in the election, we think it’s good for Farmington, good for Maine and good for democracy that more people have been drawn into the process.