Posted on 11/12/2009 4:25:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
GOUVERNEUR, NY - Despite the fact that Bill Owens has already been sworn-in and has voted on crucial legislation in the House of Representatives, he may not have actually won the NY-23 Congressional Special Election.
Several errors were made during the initial vote counts. Over 2,000 votes for contender Doug Hoffman were not counted in the preliminary results, narrowing the current vote gap to less than 3,000 votes between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman.
The errors were discovered during the standard vote recanvas that has been underway since November 4th. The largest error occurred in Oswego County where the vote recanvas found a discrepancy of more than 1,200 votes in Doug Hoffman's favor. Another error, in Jefferson County contributed an additional 700 votes in Hoffman's favor during the recount.
The election was close enough even on election night that the New York State Board of Elections was unable to present a "clear decision" in the race according to John Conklin, Communications Director for the department. He said that the Board sent a letter to the Clerk of the House of Representatives in Washington indicating that they could not yet determine a winner and could therefore not certify the election until after the recanvas and absentee ballot count. Those final numbers will not be available until at least mid-December.
Nancy Pelosi was only able to legally swear-in Bill Owens because Doug Hoffman had conceded the election, indicating that he did not contest the initial, and now shown erroneous, results, something he may not have done if he had been aware of how close the election was.
Mr. Hoffman told the Gouverneur Times that he felt at the time that he "was being a good sport" in doing so. With 93% of the polls in and counted and a margin of over 5,000 votes in favor of Owens, he felt he had lost the election. He now says that "while hindsight is 20/20, if I had known it was that close, I probably would have waited."
Bill Owens was sworn in 2 days later and proceeded to vote in favor of Pelosi's health care bill the following day. While Mr. Hoffman feels that deliberately contesting the results of the election to prevent Owens' deciding vote in the Health Care bill would "not have been very sportsmanlike," and that he, personally, would not like to see a politician manipulate events in that manner, he also indicated that the good of the American people and the citizens of the 23rd district would have weighed in on that decision as well.
As it stands now, Bill Owens may be in Washington and voting the Pelosi Party line but when the vote is certified he may be ousted. The state Board of Elections indicated that "...all ballots will be counted, and if the result changes, Owens will have to be removed." Concession speech or not, if the voters in the 23rd District elected Doug Hoffman and not Bill Owens, then Hoffman will be the Representative.
There are currently over 10,000 uncounted absentee ballots, many of which were in the military where a strongly conservative bias exists. Given the narrow margin of Owens' lead at this time, it's entirely possible that this race could still swing for Hoffman.
Sources indicate that the Democrats would not have had the votes to pass the Health bill if Owens had not been sworn-in and pledged his support for it. Several other Representatives have indicated that they would not have cast their votes in favor of the bill if they were not certain that it had the votes to win.
Precisely. They are exactly the kind of people that the Founding Fathers knew would destroy the Republic for everyone if given the chance.
I force out an Owens every morning.
Something doesn’t seem right here. I was really ticked that Hoffman conceded even before the results were in. Now he says he conceded early to be a “good sport” and “didn’t want to appear unsportsman-like”? What the heck???
Did Hoffman really want to win? What kind of crap is going on behind the scenes?
I have to seriously wonder what sort of congressman a “good sport” would make in the current Washington environment in which decent human beings are essentially an extinct species.
One thing a reversal definitely would do is throw cold water on all the “Democratic strategists” on talk shows who have been trying to say that the key election last week was NY 23 rather than anything that happened in NJ or VA.
Because she is a Democrat, and Democrats don’t abide by any standards which limit their power. And the Constitution allows Congress to be the final arbiter regarding their membership.
Worse, the common criminal is at least ambitious enough to go out on their own for personal gain. Sure, it’s immoral, wrong, and illegal, but a lot of criminals show a level of industry (albeit misguided and illegal industry) that most liberals cannot stomach. The true liberal will sit back, ask the government to use coercion and force to steal from people, then sit back and enjoy the benefits without having done anything at all.
Absolutely. Pelosi's mouth would stretch to the breaking point.
In the liberal lexicon, that is referred to as "fairness".
Why do you say that Pelosi doesn’t have to seat him. That would be downright criminal?
Profiles in courage.
I don't trust democrats, so in all honesty, I have the feeling that this will be another case where boxes of votes start showing up a la Al Franken, but I will try to be positive and hope for the best.
According to this story, Hoffman is under 3,000 votes behind Owens, that's without counting the 10,000 absentee ballots, many from military personnel.
So yes, there is a strong probability – if the counting is honest, and I emphasize the word 'honest' - that Hoffman could win. But like I said, I don't trust the dems, and chances are they'll find some way to keep this seat.
I guess we have to wait and see.
Military Times poll has military absentee voters 57% Republican, 13% percent Democrat, 30% independent. That is potentially 75-80% to Hoffman on the high side. Could be interesting.
Wow, this could really be fascinating. Imagine, after Owens was sworn in and voted for that monstrosity healthcare bill, he could be revealed as the loser of the election and removed from Congress, LOL. It could really be exciting to watch.
The thing we have to do is make sure Republicans are elected for Secretary of State. THATS THE BIG MISSION.
The Dems must have a secret fraud playbook, and this chapter is called You Can't Unring a Bell.
This is true of voter fraud that happens on Election Day: if you don't catch it and squelch it on that very day, it becomes almost impossible to prove it and reverse it afterward.
This was a new one, especially crafted for a massive, life-changing, budget-breaking bill that is widely unpopular. Plan the crime and the push the bill through at midnight before anyone has time to recount or rethink. Blindsided.
The big question is how do they stand themselves?
**As it stands now, Bill Owens may be in Washington and voting the Pelosi Party line but when the vote is certified he may be ousted.**
This would be sweet! Sweet victory thrice!
Except that it would be a little difficult to say Cao wouldn’t have been allowed to vote yes if it was that close, so his vote doesn’t count either. It gets tricky to go back and change events, as they knew.
Thanks for the ping!
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