ELECTION DAY may be over, but the vote count continues! Doug Hoffman The conservative candidate in the New York 23 district un-conceded and still hopes to get to the Congress. His opponent Bill Owens was sworn illegally in the House of Representatives in a hurry to cast a vote in favor of Obama’s Health Care Bill. The election in NY 23 was not certified because Hoffman is behind just 3 thousand votes and there are around 7 thousand absentee ballots still to be counted.
Nancy Pelosi doesn’t care who the lawful winner in NY 23 is. She just picked her favorite candidate – Democrat Bill Owens. The New York State Board of Elections was unable to prevent this action, explaining to the public that the House of Representatives is the sole arbiter of who may join their ranks. If that is so, why do we have elections? Why bother voting?
We can just let Nancy Pelosi pick. She may even collect some Democrats from the districts that Obama’s White house recently made up to fake President’s job-creating abilities. 30 jobs were created and over $700,000 spent in Arizona’s 15th congressional district. The problem is the state has only 8 districts. There is no 9, no 10, no 11… no 15th district. But isn’t it beautiful? The economy is picking up in Obama’s Dreamland districts. Why not pick up some votes for Nancy Pelosi from the President’s imaginary districts. Those votes will be as illegitimate as the one Bill Owens cast for the Health care bill.
The latest excuse of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and friends for accepting a not certified representative is that the conservative Hoffman conceded and he cannot un-concede – or so they think. Apparently Democrats suffer from post traumatic stress disorder that made them forget how in 2000 Al Gore telephoned George W Bush and later un-conceded and dragged the Florida election in court.
Just a year ago the Congress was not in a hurry to swear the new Senator Roland Burris, who took the place of Barack Obama in the Senate. The Democrat leadership closed the door and left the only African- American Senator to stay outside in the rain because of a missing stamp. Burris was certified from his Governor Blagojevich – allegedly corrupt Governor – but Burris’s papers were fine. Democrats kept Burris out, but let Owens in.
What is really sad in the NY 23 highly contested election is that the third candidate Dede Scozzafava got 6,485 votes after dropping out of the race. That is double the current difference between Hoffman and Owens. Six thousand votes wasted for a candidate that did not stick around till the end.
The counting of the ballots in the NY 23 special elections will continue into December. If the vote goes to Hoffman - then Owens will have to be removed from Congress.
In a 2006 California election House Speaker Dennis Hastert swore-in the presumed winner before the result was certified. Legal filings at the time suggest that this action is equal to the Speaker canceling the election. By placing an unofficial winner in the House, the Speaker is removing that decision from the hands of the people.
Nancy Pelosi should get her lawyers ready, because the imaginary world is on recovery.gov. In the real world we have laws.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Don’t you realize that those districts are in the “57 states” that Our Supreme Glorious Leader has visited, with one to go??
November 18th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Six thousand votes wasted for a candidate that did not stick around till the end.
Hey now, we third-party leaners get a bit defensive when people start talking about “wasting” votes. Every option — voting republican, voting democrat, voting 3rd party, abstaining altogether — is equally meaningful, both in terms of principle and statistics.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Rhayader, I actually agree with you - better show up and vote for a candidate who is not in the race then stay home - keep the democratic proses going… In the case of NY 23 there is a possibility the voters were not well aware the candidate is out of the race, but still on the ballot, but it brings tears in my eyes to think those faithful Republicans who checked R in NY23 - not really, because I am not a Republican.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:13 am
better show up and vote for a candidate who is not in the race then stay home
Well again, I think abstaining can be just as valid a decision as any other. It has become a cliche that most people who vote are picking the “lesser of two evils”. Sometimes it makes sense to voice your dissatisfaction — with both the candidates and the two-party system as a whole — by not voting for anybody.
Here’s a good article about it written right before the 2004 presidential election:
http://reason.com/archives/2004/11/02/not-voting-and-proud
November 18th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Rhayader, good lesson in the importance of voting. NY23 is a great example of it. Votes were already cast - so we can guess all we want what the intention of the voters was. You say dissatisfaction - I say misinformation - we may never know. I remember liberals making a lot of fuss over Florida’s butterfly ballots in 2000. Was the electoral proses clear enough for the voters to realize the Republican candidate is not in the race? Were the voters given the right information or were they misinformed at the poll.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Doug created a new word “unconceded”
I guess if Bush can “misunderestimate” or rather his opponents can, then certainly Hoffman can “unconcede”
November 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Tim, we can also call Obama “the Undecider” as the opposite of “the Decider”
November 18th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
All ballots should have a “None of the Above” option. If “None of the Above” gets more votes than either candidate, then the whole process should be done over with all new candidates.
This would have been a good option during the last presidential election.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Haha, that might be a little tough from a practical standpoint Razorgirl — scheduling a new election, etc. But I like where your mind is — abstaining should be recognized as a choice just like voting is.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Don’t forget to click my “indict” button:
http://www.indictburris.com
or forget to watch my new satirical video!
http://www.indictburris.com/piggybankvideo
November 19th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I vote for Razorgirl idea.