NY-23 Race Tightens As Owens Caters to Pelosi, Obama. No Final Tally 'til 11/17!

Yes, you read that right. The NY-23 race is far from over!

Recanvassing shows NY-23 race tightens even as Rep. Bill Owens is sworn into House seat

Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County.

As it turns out, neither was true.

Now a recanvassing in the 11-county district shows that Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed, said John Conklin, communications director for the state Board of Elections. Under a new law in New York that extended deadlines, military and overseas ballots received by this coming Monday (and postmarked by Nov. 2) will be counted. Standard absentee ballots had to be returned this past Monday.

Jefferson County, home of Fort Drum and the Army's 10th Mountain Division, distributed 2,299 absentee ballots for the special election. As of this week, 1,303 had been returned but not counted, Eaton said. He said the county will begin counting the absentee ballots earyl next week.

www.syracuse.com...

So, let's not everybody crow to loudly before "dawn", some time next week or so. OK?

deny ignorance

jw

[edit on 12-11-2009 by jdub297]

I saw this earlier today. The official tally may continue to tighten, but I don't think there are enough absentee ballots to make up the difference.

That said, with all of the inaccurate counting and reports of *zero* votes for Hoffman in a number of areas, it definitely makes me wonder about what actually happened up there. It looks more than a bit suspicious from where I'm sitting.

It looks like the absentee ballots may very well swing in Hoffman's favor.

He won handily in the 2 largest counties, and a large portion of the overseas ballots should favor him as well.

the absentee ballots are likely to favor Hoffman because most were likely mailed before Republican Dede Scozzafava suspended her campaign three days before the election.

"For Doug to win, we needed a three-way race," [campaign spokesman Rob] Ryan said, adding that the campaign’s internal polls showed Hoffman would win with all three candidates.

"Given the majority of these ballots are from a three-way race, we think the ballots are going to break Doug’s way," Ryan said.

Ryan declined to say what percentage of the absentee vote the campaign believes Hoffman would need to win the race. Nevertheless, Hoffman’s campaign is optimistic.

"When people look back at this race, it was a remote possibility that Doug Hoffman would be a contender," Ryan said. "But miracles do happen.

www.syracuse.com...

jw

That would be awesome if Hoffman does end up winning. That would just rub the noses of the Progressives into the pee stained carpet a little more. Maybe someday they will learn to not pee in the house.

Yes, and very, very interesting about the "zero votes" for Hoffman reporting from some precincts.

I believe we also saw some of that during the last presidential election. Maybe from the polling places the Black Panthers and union thugs were "patrolling"?

reply to post by centurion1211
You're not paranoid if they really are out to get you.

Funny, since the district is traditionally R, and the I basically ran the R(INO) off, that the largest counties would have wildly inaccurate tallies, isn't it?

Does ACORN have a republican evil twin?

jw

Just curious... but even if the votes come out showing that he won, didn't he still lose because he conceded?

Originally posted by Bosko
Just curious... but even if the votes come out showing that he won, didn't he still lose because he conceded?

No. Conceding means you don't challenge the outcome of the election. If the votes show a different outcome when they are all tallied, then the other guy will need to concede or challenge.

I was surprised and happy to see this thread. During the recent vote on the Public Health Care I did email my new representative, Bill Owens. Also during the vote on the Stupak Amendment I sent him another email.

No response from him. Perhaps he doesn't count me as a constituent of the 23rd district because I don't have a "D" after my name.

Mahree

reply to post by Bosko


The concession really doesn't matter. If New York state certifies that Hoffman won the election, then Owens has to go.

reply to post by Mahree

I sent him another email.

No response from him. Perhaps he doesn't count me as a constituent of the 23rd district

I'm not sure about this, but I think all of Owen's "constituents" are in D.C. Most on K Street.

He's probably been busy getting a new mortgage form BoA/Countrywide, lunching with PhRMA, and looking for "contractors" to work on some "remodeling" projects he's got.

He'll get to that NY "constituent" stuff later, after his pockets are full.

Good luck to you.

(If you are in the NY 23rdCD, keeps us posted on scuttlebutt and and developments, please.)

jw

Originally posted by vor78
reply to post by Bosko

 

The concession really doesn't matter. If New York state certifies that Hoffman won the election, then Owens has to go.

I agree about "concession," but what about the Secretary of State's "certification" of the "winner?"

How can the NY 23rd CD "winner" end up with fewer votes? (I've limited the question to just this one election in this one district. No moaning about past perceived sleights.)

jw

reply to post by jdub297


As far as I know, there has been no official certification of the NY-23 election by the NY Secretary of State, so its a moot point. Owens has only been declared the winner due to Hoffman's concession, but if the state's official tally shows Hoffman with more votes, then Owens will have to be removed.

The real question is: how can Owens be sworn in to the House of Representatives before NY State certifies the election results?

reply to post by vor78
Yes, you're right. Apparently, Pelosi has a wat to swear in new members if no one opposes it:

(from the OP source)

Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District, and therefore the state had not certified the election. But the letter noted that Owens still led by about 3,000 votes, and that the special election was not contested -- two factors that legally allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to swear in Owens on Friday.

www.syracuse.com...

Who would've guessed. Owens can't answer constituents' emails 'cause he's been too busy kissing leadership bodyparts.

jw