Hoffman: No! No! I take it back! WAAAA! (He unconcedes?)

[SirNitram]

Link

ALBANY, N.Y. — A Conservative Party candidate has withdrawn his concession in a close special election for a U.S. House seat, and New York election officials are beginning to count paper ballots.

Doug Hoffman made the announcement that he's "unconceding" on Glenn Beck's national radio show Monday.

Hoffman's spokesman, Rob Ryan, says that the campaign is looking at the remaining military, absentee and paper ballots. Counting the more than 10,000 paper ballots could take days.

Democrat Bill Owens was sworn into Congress after he was declared the winner of the Nov. 3 election. The latest results show him ahead by about 3,000 votes.

The race exposed a schism in the Republican Party with national figures backing Hoffman over the GOP nominee.

This is ridiculous. Of course, I know where he got the idea he could. From Glenn Beck's show:

BECK: Alright, so let me ask you two questions. Are you currently bowing to me at the waist? (LAUGHTER) Have you bowed, or will you bow, to anyone, at the waist? No? Okay, good. Second question for you, are you officially un-conceding at this moment?

HOFFMAN: Yes, if I knew this information at the election night, I would not have conceded.

BECK: So are you un-conceding?

HOFFMAN: If that’s possible, yes.

BECK: If the President can bow to an emperor and nobody says anything, yeah, I think you can unconcede.

[DrMckay]

Perhaps Mr Gore should have "Unconceded" in the 2000 election- oh wait he demanded a recount and the Republicans crucified him....just when I had started to feel a tiny bit better about the country too.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I heard about this a week ago here...

It looks like he was told incorrect numbers that lead him to believe he was down by a lot more than he actually was. I'd be pissed too.

[RedImperator]

It's within his rights to contest a close election. I don't see what the problem is.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Yeah, even if he conceded the race, he would still be the person who would sit in Congress if the final vote came out in his favour. The concession is just a formality that has no legal relevance whatsoever.

[SirNitram]

It's within his rights to contest a close election. I don't see what the problem is.

It's one part noting he's contesting, and one part childish mockery of a man who views Glen Beck as a mentor and went to him for this.

I'm not a Supermod anymore, I can have childish mockery!

[jcow79]

Yeah, even if he conceded the race, he would still be the person who would sit in Congress if the final vote came out in his favour. The concession is just a formality that has no legal relevance whatsoever.

According the Syracuse article the concession actually had HUGE legal relevance because it allowed Pelosi to swear in Owens because the concession meant the race was not contested and that Owens had the current lead. Why they would allow them to be sworn in without a certified result is what concerns me. Is this the typical process?

Here's the relevant part from the article CaptainChewbacca linked.

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.

Bolded portion my emphasis.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It doesn't actually mean anything to the final result, though--it just means that Pelosi would have egg on her face for acting so hastily. I think it was only possible because the margin is still out of the range for an automatic recount, which is like 2,000 votes IIRC.

[jcow79]

It doesn't actually mean anything to the final result, though--it just means that Pelosi would have egg on her face for acting so hastily. I think it was only possible because the margin is still out of the range for an automatic recount, which is like 2,000 votes IIRC.

I think it's more than egg on her face. This was actually really clever political maneuvering. He was sworn in immediately to vote specifically on the health care bill despite the outcome of the election being unknown. In essence we have a loophole for un-elected people to vote on legislation.

Now I really doubt this is all that common but shouldn't we require an election be certified before we're allowing members to vote on real legislation? Even if we thought he had a 5000ish vote lead like it was originally thought the fact there were over 10,000 uncounted absentee ballots should have compelled more prudent measures.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Regardless, I believe the Healthcare bill passed by 5 votes. One congressman who voted yes did so because it was going to pass. Take that vote and this one and put them on the other side, the bill still passes 218 to 217. Of course, whether or not it would have PASSED if it had been much closer is something we'll never know. The Republicans may have started passing out official holidays and aircraft carriers to get one more vote.

[Count Chocula]

From what I understand, Albany has not confirmed the vote results, and until they do there ain't no rep for the 23rd district. It appears that the concession means fuck and all until the vote tally is confirmed by the state of New York despite Hoffman's concession and Owens' swearing in, although I doubt anyone will go back and insist Owens "un-vote" on Pelosi's legislation (which he, of course, read in its 2,000-page entirety /sarcasm). IOW, if Albany insists Hoffman won he'll probably take the seat.

For the Democrats, Owens' winning of the 23d District marked their only electoral victory on November 3. Hell, New Jersey got a Republican governor! Good luck there, pal.

[The Romulan Republic]

Regardless, I believe the Healthcare bill passed by 5 votes. One congressman who voted yes did so because it was going to pass. Take that vote and this one and put them on the other side, the bill still passes 218 to 217. Of course, whether or not it would have PASSED if it had been much closer is something we'll never know. The Republicans may have started passing out official holidays and aircraft carriers to get one more vote.

This worries me. Not being an expert in Constitutional Law, I have to ask: is their even the slightest chance that Republicans could use this to challenge the legitimacy of the vote?

[CmdrWilkens]

Regardless, I believe the Healthcare bill passed by 5 votes. One congressman who voted yes did so because it was going to pass. Take that vote and this one and put them on the other side, the bill still passes 218 to 217. Of course, whether or not it would have PASSED if it had been much closer is something we'll never know. The Republicans may have started passing out official holidays and aircraft carriers to get one more vote.

This worries me. Not being an expert in Constitutional Law, I have to ask: is their even the slightest chance that Republicans could use this to challenge the legitimacy of the vote?

Short answer: Nope


The reason is the same as why several Congressmen and women in close elections have been sworn in anyway. Both Houses of Congress retain the right to determine their own membership under Article I Section 5:

Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members

In other words by accepting Owens as a member the House has made a determination on its own that the returns were sufficient for his swearing in and they are within their rights to do so. Once the House accepts him as a member his vote is legal.


Total aside but his unconcession will have no chance of making a diference because the final result will, in all likelyhood, be outside the recount margin. The counties which have returned resutls are already showign what many expected which is a large vote for Scofeevza (the Republican that Hoffman knocked out by initimadation) which reduces the ability of Hoffman to gain ground. porjections based on the early returns have the margin for Owens outside the 2,000 vote threshold AND the ones which have returned results were abnormally pro-Hoffman so they represent his best shot in the absentee count.

[CarsonPalmer]

Hell, New Jersey got a Republican governor!

Very unsurprising, too. Corzine was hated. And it isn't like it is stunningly unusual for NJ to elect a Republican governor; we elected Christie Whitman, too.

[Alferd Packer]

Hell, New Jersey got a Republican governor!

Very unsurprising, too. Corzine was hated. And it isn't like it is stunningly unusual for NJ to elect a Republican governor; we elected Christie Whitman, too.

Additionally, in the last six elections (since George Bush 1), New Jersey has elected a governor from the opposite party of the President.

[Omega18]

Basically what some people missed when looking at the number of absentee ballots is allot of those votes will definitely be for the Republican party candidate Scozzafava who dropped out since you're talking in some cases about overseas military voters and expatriate voters who would often mail in their ballots significantly early to make sure their votes are received in time, and Scozzafava didn't drop out until very late in the race. )The third party candiate also tended to be lower in the polls than the other two candidates until late in the race.) A related factor is that while perhaps less of an issue given the degree of press the drop did get, is some of those soldiers overseas also probably didn't hear the news immediately after she dropped out, and may have put their ballots in the mail before they did learn of the situation which made it too late to potentially change their vote. (You can't simply call someone up and say I decided to change my vote to another candidate after you have already mailed your ballot.)

It never was plausible given this circumstance that the uncounted mail in ballots would be enough to alter the result given these circumstances and the size of the lead, even if that lead was not as large as originally believed.

[SirNitram]

Now the vote was apparently stolen.

Link

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate in the NY-23 election, is going further in revoking his election-night concession to Democrat Bill Owens -- who was sworn into office a few days later -- and alleging that ACORN has attempted to steal the election!

In a new letter to his supporters, Hoffman boasts of how the margin in the race has narrowed as the counties have corrected clerical errors in the totals and absentee ballots are counted -- a situation that he puts down to an obvious ACORN conspiracy:

I'm sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

...

Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

As of yesterday evening's totals, Hoffman trailed by 2,832 votes, with 4,262 absentees left to be counted. It looks like no matter what the final result is, Hoffman and his allies will charge that this election was stolen by the ACORN bogeyman.

The full text of the letter...

Stop Another Stolen Election!

Dear Fellow Conservative,

As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens.

I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news - - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night - and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County.
On Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week!

Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.

That is why I am writing you today. Recent developments leave me to wonder who is scheming behind closed doors, twisting arms and stealing elections from the voters of NY-23.

I'm sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

A recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026.In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

Let's force them keep this recanvassing active! Let's give this election a chance to end differently!
Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

The district's second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I'm now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which the state Board of Elections distributed about 10,200.

The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can't let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy.

State Board of Elections Communications Director John Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned. So long as we remain the "land of the free," we MUST ensure every vote is counted.

Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime.

Yours in Freedom,


Doug Hoffman

P.S. I ran a different kind of campaign, one where Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party and 9/12 activists rallied around. ACORN, the unions and Democratic Party were scared, and that's why they tampered with the ballots of voters in NY-23. Will you please contribute today so we can show them that fair elections are the Will of the People? Thank you.

Here's me, unsurprised.