District 23 up in the air?

3,000 vote margin with 10,000 left to count.

Nagannahappen.

 

http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/inde...llegally&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175

[rquoter]Owens In Office Illegally?
Northern NY 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?

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.[/rquoter]

 

Oops.

 

You two are delusional...

 

And...

It's hilarious how you want to jump on Pelosi but conveniently overlooked this when it happened and automatically decry the precedent it set if Dems are in a position to use it...

If that is truly the case, it needs to be fixed and set up so that nothing like it ever happens again.

However, NY-23 is not in the same boat.

 

So they contested the results the day before the election? Interesting.

 

it takes an expert to divorce a man that ain't never been married.

 

you are an idiot

 

then so was Ira Gershwin.

 

Hoffman "unconcedes."

--
Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has "unconceded" in New York's special House election after reports that the vote margin narrowed between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D).

Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing.

Hoffman appeared on conservative commenatator Glenn Beck's radio show this afternoon. Beck asked the him if he would "unconcede."

"Yes, if I knew this information at the election night, I would not have conceded," Hoffman said. Beck asked him again if he was "unconceding" and Hoffman replied, "If that’s possible, yes."

Officials in the upstate New York district are still counting over 10,000 absentee ballots, which also had Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava's name on them. Scozzafava dropped out of the race three days before Election Day, citing poor fundraising and polling returns. She subsequently backed Owens.

Owens was sworn into Congress on Nov. 6, just before House Democrats voted on the healthcare reform. Should Hoffman come away with more votes, a highly unlikely possibility, Owens would have to be removed from office, according to the House clerk.

Hoffman would have to take over 65 percent of the absentee ballots in order to eclipse Owens. In the interview, Hoffman admitted his victory would be a "long shot."

 

it's not possible

*snicker*

 

poor basso

NY-23 absentee counts

Among absentees, Mr. Hoffman has picked up 44.0 percent of the vote, Mr. Owens has gathered 32.3 percent of the vote and Ms. Scozzafava got 23.7 percent of the absentee vote. If the percentages hold, Mr. Owens will win by 2,305 votes.

Mr. Hoffman now trails Mr. Owens by 2,959 votes, with 5,570 absentee ballots left to be counted.

 

Here's an update for you basso cause I know how important this is to you --

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091118/BLOGS09/911189995

With 42.6 percent of all absentees counted, Mr. Hoffman has gained 344 votes on Mr. Owens so far. Mr. Owens, however, still leads by 2,832 votes.

If the current percentages hold, Mr. Owens will win by 2,368 votes.

Simply put, Ms. Scozzafava's strong performance in absentees is making Mr. Hoffman's chances of winning creep closer to "impossible."

The Republican is grabbing 21.1 percent of the absentees so far.

There are 4,262 absentee ballots remaining. If Ms. Scozzafava takes 21 percent of those, Mr. Hoffman will need 3,099 to pass Mr. Owens. That's 92 percent of the remaining pie - absolutely unheard of.

 

You're obsessed.

 

damn basso, you weren't even right about the Absentee vote.

Owens Winning The Absentee Ballots In NY-23

 

blah blah blah ... its very clear ACORN stole this election.

 

Do you have any evidence to support this?

 

Conservatives don't need "evidence," they have gut feelings that trump anything a scientist could ever overrule.

 

I thought he was being sarcastic.