Is It Possible the Wrong Guy Was Sworn In on NY-23 ?

NRO ^ | November 11, 2009 | Jim Geraghty

[RobinMasters]

Boy, if this recanvassing comes out with a big surge of votes for Doug Hoffman, a whole lot of post-election analyses are going to have to be rewritten: "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."

[mark3681]

See 37

[Faith]

If that's the case, was Pelosi swearing Owens in illegal and did he cast an illegal vote on Healthcare (one vote won't make a difference in overall tally but it could be worth a call to do something about Pelosi and possibly revote).

YES! YES! YES! This scenario is at the top of my Christmas list, Nancy.

[Chet 99]

The vote on the health care bill this past weekend might have gone very differently if Owens wasn't sworn in time for the vote.

How so? 220 to 215. With Hoffman, 219 to 216. Even with Cao not jumping it would have been 218 to 217. Plus, Nazi Pelosi undoubtedly released "Blue Dog" rats to vote no since she didn't need their vote.

[Fido969]

No. But with Hoffmann's preemptive concession it doesn't matter now.

You don't think Owens would "do the right thing" and step aside so the will of the people will prevail?

[Wild Irish Rogue]

From the article linked at Drudge :
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/its_not_over_recanvassing_shows_ny23_race.html

John Conklin communications director for the state Board of Elections said this :

“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.”

[tioga]

verrry interesting ping

[TNCMAXQ]

“Owens will have to be removed.” Wow, how wild would that be. Still unlikely though.

Besides Gore there was one other very public case where a winner conceded. Gov Jim Rhodes in OH in 1974 as I recall. He was slightly behind on election night but late returns showed him actually pulling ahead by a tiny margin. He made some joke about conceding, but he was actually sworn in for another term.

[airborne]

How can Owens be “removed” if the vote hasn’t been certified yet?

Did he get sworn in anyway?

[Terabitten]

What exactly is recanvassing? Simply recounting the votes?

[dools007]

I doubt there is any rule, law or whatever that says the final certified vote count result is trumped by a concession speech.

But even if there is, Hoffman needs to take this to court. If nothing else it will create another negative for the Demrats and Onada. Of course, the morally correct thing for the demrat to do, if it turns out he actually lost, is to remove himself from the scene. Any bets on that happening?

[Fido969]

The Dems will be printing absentee ballots all night long. BTT.

It's almost impossible to swing 3000 votes with 10,000 ballots. It just ain't gonna happen.

[Mojave]

Keep in mind that a concession is just a tradition with absolutely no legal bearing.

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.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/its_not_over_recanvassing_shows_ny23_race.html

[Billthedrill]

Probably not, but then the first count had him 5000 down. We’ll see, but he was silly to concede. IMHO.

[Mojave]

Did Hoffman intend to give the race to Owens? Or was he just an idiot?

Close call.

[bmwcyle]

ping

[MortMan]

I think NYS Law says it matters - that Owens is removed if the election recount decides he didn’t win.

That’s my impression, at least.

[Mojave]

He should not have conceded so fast. I can give him some pass on not having good campaign advise because the DAMN RNC hurt him at every step when they should have been helping this guy and at least should have had him some good advisors on hand on election night (when they were supposedly FINALLY on board with him).

Hoffman got his advice from the loons over in the CP.

"Long acknowledged that Hoffman may have conceded the race too soon, but said he didn’t want his candidate to come across as a sore loser on Election Night."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1109/Hoffman_ally_Owens_victory_still_looks_inevitable.html

[LADY J]

"But even if there is, Hoffman needs to take this to court. If nothing else it will create another negative for the Demrats and Onada. Of course, the morally correct thing for the demrat to do, if it turns out he actually lost, is to remove himself from the scene. Any bets on that happening?

If he wins - the National Republican Party had better fight tooth & nail for this Conservative. They owe it to their base. They created the damage by backing a lousy liberal.

The RATS doing the right thing will happen when snow starts falling in Hell.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[queenkathy]

This is what syracuse.com news says.

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.