Republicans and Grace Schwab made the right decision Tuesday when they called off any further action challenging the results of the District 27 Senate election. A recount was done, disputed ballots had been scrutinized twice, and the matter of 17 burned ballots was resolved in a manner satisfactory to the Republicans. With Dan Sparks still winning by five votes, any further action would have had only a miniscule chance of changing the election result.

It’s time to move on, and it’s good that those who executed the lawsuit have come to that conclusion.

The challenges made were not totally in vain; there was a key question to be answered over how to handle those 17 missing ballots. Even though the State Canvassing Board relied on precedent and sound reasoning in effectively giving Sparks eight of the 17 missing votes, the challengers had a valid argument about counting votes that aren’t there. There’s very little chance that Sparks did not get at least eight of those votes, but as the Republicans pointed out, there is never any way to be sure. The argument was important in theory, even though winning it was not enough to overturn the election results.

With the months-long dispute and the uncertainty it brought behind the district, residents and their new senator can turn their focus to the challenges that lie ahead during this legislative session, which will be one of the most important in this state in years.

With all that in mind, it’s fortunate that Schwab and the Republicans will waive their right to another appeal, sparing us more uncertainty and taxpayer expense.

Tribune editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s management and editorial staff.