NY-23: Hoffman Runs Again

Doug Hoffman, the conservative who threw the political landscape into turmoil last November with an insurgent candidacy in a special House race, has announced he is mounting another campaign to win the upstate New York congressional seat.

When local Republican chairmen passed over Hoffman last fall and selected Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava to seek the seat in New York’s 23rd congressional district, Hoffman declared he was running anyway as on the Conservative Party ticket because he considered Scozzafava too liberal. He quickly gained in the polls, prompting Scozzafava to drop out and endorse the Democrat, Bill Owens. Owens won, capturing a seat held by the GOP for decades.

Use the above link to read the entire article By Naftali Bendavid
WSJ Blog - Washington Wire

Michael H. Drucker
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First the Impossible, Now the Improbable, in NY-23

The St. Lawrence County Board of Elections has certified impossible numbers in the special election for New York’s 23rd Congressional District. 93 “phantom votes,” more votes counted than the number of ballots cast, were reported in six election districts, and negative numbers reported for the “blank ballots,” or “undervotes.”

Such numbers are a red flag, indicating that something is terribly wrong with the electronic vote tabulation system countywide. Further scrutiny of the election results reveals numerous precincts where the results, although not always mathematically impossible, are not credible.

Use the above link to read Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., article in the Gouverneur Times (Northern NY News).

Michael H. Drucker
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Independent Wins NY 23rd District

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

Jefferson County, New York, which is on Lake Ontario, has been represented by a Republican in the U.S. House starting with the 1854 election, the year the Republican Party was born. However, as a result of the November 3, 2009, special election in the 23rd district, Jefferson County will be represented by Bill Owens, the Democratic nominee who appears to have won.

Jefferson County’s largest city is Watertown. In the 1852 election, Jefferson County had been its own U.S. House district, and had elected an Independent to the U.S. House. Jefferson County hadn’t been represented by a Democrat in the U.S. House since a Democrat, Willard Ives, won the 1850 election in that part of New York.

Ironically, the new Congressman in the 23rd district, Owens, is a registered independent, even though he was the Democratic nominee.

Michael H. Drucker
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