Posted on 11/12/2009 2:09:01 PM PST by American Dream 246
Democrat Bill Owens delivers his victory speech at his headquarters in Plattsburgh last week. Owens declared victory after Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman conceded the 23rd Congressional District race election night. Now recanvassing shows the special election has narrowed to a 3,000-vote difference, and will be decided by a count of absentee ballots.
The Associated PressDemocrat Bill Owens delivers his victory speech at his headquarters in Plattsburgh last week. Owens declared victory after Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman conceded the 23rd Congressional District race election night. Now recanvassing shows the special election has narrowed to a 3,000-vote difference, and will be decided by a count of absentee ballots.» Updated county-by-county NY-23 vote totals (PDF)Washington -- 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.
But Hoffman’s concession -- based on snafus in Oswego County and elsewhere that left his vote undercounted -- set off a chain of events that echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and helped secure passage of a historic health care reform bill.
Democratic Rep. Bill Owens was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives. His support sealed his party’s narrow victory on the health care legislation.
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.
In Oswego County, where Hoffman was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes -- 12,748 to 11,000.
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.
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.
"We sent a letter to the clerk laying out the totals," Conklin said. "The key is that Hoffman conceded, which means the race is not contested. However, all ballots will be counted, and if the result changes, Owens will have to be removed."
Before Owens was sworn in Friday, Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat who won a special election in California, was sworn in Thursday. The two gave Pelosi the votes she needed to reach a majority of 218 and pass the historic health care reform legislation in the House.
The bill passed 220-215 late Saturday with the support of only one Republican. The Republican, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, said he voted for the legislation only after seeing that Democrats had the 218 votes needed for passage.
Now Hoffman, who campaigned against the health care reform bill, is carefully watching as the 23rd District race tightens and he is left to wonder if he conceded too soon.
"I don’t know if we would have conceded on election night," Rob Ryan, Hoffman’s campaign spokesman, said Wednesday while discussing the latest results of the recanvassing. "I’m someone who doesn’t like to look back. But would we have taken longer to make a decision on election night? Probably, if we knew it was only 3,000 votes making the difference."
Ryan, while acknowledging that Hoffman’s chances of pulling off a come-from-behind victory are still remote, said the campaign is looking at its legal options.
"We’re basically watching and waiting," Ryan said. "We’ve been looking very closely at the recanvass. We’re going to see how this week shapes up, and then we’re going to determine what to do."
Ryan said an important factor in the decision to concede was the unexpected -- and erroneous -- close vote in Oswego County, where polls had Hoffman with a double digit percentage point lead heading into Election Day.
"That’s the thing that threw us off," Ryan said.
Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up and inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. Of 245 races in the county -- not including the congressional and court races -- 84 had incorrect totals reported election night.
In the congressional race, more votes were cast in Oswego County than any other in the 11-county district.
The district’s second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where Hoffman also has benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining about 700 votes. Owens led Hoffman by 300 votes on the final election night tally. But after recanvassing, Hoffman now leads by 424 votes, 10,884 to 10,460.
Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where Hoffman’s vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.
"Hoffman definitely gained votes where he didn’t have them," Eaton said.
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.
Conklin, of the state Board of Elections, said officials did not have updated absentee ballot totals from the other counties.
When asked about the tightening race, Owens spokesman Jon Boughtin released a statement without directly addressing the election. "Since being elected, Congressman Owens has remained focused on the issues at hand: working with local leaders to address the Champlain Bridge closure, meeting with commanders at Fort Drum and continuing the work to strengthen Upstate New York," the statement said.
Ryan said 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," 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.
The cheats will be working hard to fix the vote if it is even close.
whats the law on automatic recounts?.....if the tally narrows, I think its worth a shot...just to show the rats that we’re serioius......
We had better learn to be "No more Mr Nice Guy" and start throwing their tactics back at them. Its bad enough that we have Acorn and SEIU out there trying to manipulate the election results but, jeez,do we have to shoot ourselves in the foot!
Unfortunately, that's not the way it works. From the article...
"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."
For Hoffman to be installed now, a House member would have to challenge Owens on the floor, and the House would theoretically act to expel Owens and seat or install Hoffman. What do you think the chances of that happening in a Pelosi House are?
Hoffman's big mistake was NOT contesting the election. Not surprising as he's a political neophyte without the backing of big-party election counsel.
whats the law on automatic recounts?.....if the tally narrows, I think its worth a shot...just to show the rats that we’re serious......
I think you are wrong. I am not a lwayer...at all.. but I just read that it will fully nullify the actions of Owens and his nomination. Sadly..cannot remember where I rea that - sorry.
I hate to tell you this, but the probably incompetent Hoffman campaign spokesman said that Hoffman could not win a majority in a two way race.
And yes, should Owens hold his lead, that would prove that Hoffman was indeed a spoiler, if you believe the incompetent campaign spokesman.
The quote is “”For Doug to win, we needed a three-way race,” Ryan said”
If Hoffman conceded based on faulty information provided by the election officies, I think he has a right to a recount or some other remedy.....
I so agree with you. He should never had conceded so fast! WE SHOULD STOP BEING SO STUPIDLY POLITE!!!
If Hoffman does end up being the winner, Pelosi won’t seat him.
Just watch.
How is someone suppose to know if the media is telling them they are losing by a million votes, that it isn't correct and he might actually be winning.....
By the time the votes are actually counted the other dude is already sworn in ... wtf
“Hoffman’s big mistake was NOT contesting the election.”
Even if he loses, contesting it could have at least denied the democrats a vote for a while. Coleman in MN, dragged things out a really long time, denying the democrats a critical Senate vote for about 7 months.
Owens was never certified by the state, he should have never been sworn in to begin with, no way his votes could stand it it turns out Hoffman is certified the winner.
Interesting development.
As a resident of Washington State I feel qualified to say that for an (R) or conservative candidate to win an election in a very blue district, that candidate must win by a huge margin. Otherwise the votes will just keep being recounted until the (D) candidate wins. I’m still amazed by how close Hoffman came to winning this.
Then we will need to go back in the street - seriously this time!!!
The ONE thing that could help would be talk radio, the internet and citizen outrage. Might give the minority party some backbone.
Most, and I can say that with certainty do vote republican, even conservative but we send in those ballot's early, and if you recall Hoffman came in late, had the military ALL the information I have no doubt they would have made the informed choice.
I think as I read your remark the first time it took me off guard, I am just unclear as to your point.
The military takes their ability to vote ABSENTEE most seriously and units around the world do all they can to ensure that active duty/ family member's have all the assets available to get their vote in within the time allocated.
Again, the problem remains, Hoffman may not have been available for many of our finest to have his name as the choice.
IN THE FUTURE THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN, THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY NOT ONLY DEBPENDS ON OUR FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE BUT THEIR VOTE IS IMPORTANT AS WELL.
No, he was a sworn representative at the time. He probably even gets his retirement.
It’s on Rush website
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