Lesson learned never concede until all the votes are in.
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Indeed. Check this out:
http://doughoffmanforcongress.com/home.html
Owens in Office Illegally?
Northern New York News Written by Nathan Barker
Candidate sworn-in even though election was contested
GOUVERNEUR, NY - The New York State Board of Elections was unable to present a “clear decision” to the House of Representatives in the NY-23 Congressional Special Election. John Conklin, Communications Director for the Board of Elections, said that the board could not even have declared an unofficial winner in the race had Doug Hoffman not conceded on Election Night.
The letter that was sent to the Clerk of the House of Representatives by the Board of Elections and entered into House record on Nov. 6th shows that only 3,026 votes separated the candidates according to the unofficial results submitted. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, as the most senior member of New York’s Congressional Delegation, put forth Bill Owens for swearing-in to the 111th Congress. In doing so, he indicated that “His Certificate of Election has not arrived, but there is no contest, and no question has been raised with regard to his election.”
This statement, however, was not entirely true. Representatives for Bill Owens’ campaign had contested the election results on November 2nd, 2009 and ordered the vote impounded according to officials.
The move, regardless of Owens’ standing with respect to the results, was a clear indicator to the Board of Elections that the election result was contested. The votes were impounded and the official result delayed until sometime in mid-December when the final counts will be certified.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives requested results of the election from the NYS Board of Elections. The NY Board of Elections could not release those results while the vote was impounded but after Mr. Hoffman’s concession of the election, based on erroneous information Hoffman had received with regard to the vote count, the Owens’ Campaign released their impound order. This put the Board of Elections in a position where they could report the vote count to the Clerk of the House, although they emphasized that the results were unofficial and that they could not certify the result.
Without a clear winner in the election and with considerably more outstanding absentee ballots than the spread between the candidates, the NY Board could not and did not certify the result of the election. The House, however, moved forward with the induction of its newest member regardless. They did so, presumably on the order of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who had declared on the previous day that “Tuesday night, we won two more votes for health care.” with apparent disregard for the fact that the election is not over yet.
The New York State Board of Elections was unable to prevent this action, indicating that the House of Representatives is the sole arbiter of who may join their ranks. The question remains though, did the House act too soon?
Without a clear winner in the election and with considerably more outstanding absentee ballots than the spread between the candidates, the NY Board could not and did not certify the result of the election. The House, however, moved forward with the induction of its newest member regardless. They did so, presumably on the order of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who had declared on the previous day that “Tuesday night, we won two more votes for health care.” with apparent disregard for the fact that the election is not over yet.
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“WITH APPARENT DISREGARD FOR THE FACT THAT THE ELECTION IS NOT OVER YET.”
Any surprises?
The rest of this article:
Conklin indicates that all of the ballots in this race will be counted and that the NYS Board of Elections will declare a winner when that vote count is completed, sometime in December.
As Jude Seymour at the Watertown Daily Times pointed out this morning, “It’s mathematically possible that Douglas L. Hoffman could pass Rep. William L. Owens when all absentee ballots in the 23rd Congressional District race are counted...”
Bill Owens’ campaign was aware of how close this race would be and had pre-emptively ordered the votes impounded to prevent Doug Hoffman being sworn-in immediately if the preliminary results went Hoffman’s way.
If the vote goes to Hoffman, the Board of Elections says that Owens “will have to be removed.”
This, of course, is not the first time this has happened. In a 2006 California election for the House, House Speaker Dennis Hastert pre-emptively swore-in the presumed winner long before the result was certified. Legal filings at the time suggest that this action is tantamount to the Speaker canceling the election and choosing their own candidate as until the result is certified, the election is not over. By placing an unofficial winner in the House, the Speaker is removing that decision from the hands of the people.
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So NY may declare Hoffman the winner and PelosLIE may not seat him. PelosLIE’s approval ratings are already at about 12% - are they going to go to single digits over this and how will this play out in the heartland - since this was farm country and PelosLIE is basically strong arming them if she decides not to seat Hoffman and circumvent New York State’s own official certified results and the will of NY 23.
How BRAZEN will Nancy PelosLIE be about this?
Is she willing to risk a national scandal involving this one seat?
Pretty interesting set of political choices and murky waters ahead for PelosLIE and company.