Well wouldn’t this be fun.

Syracuse Post-Standard: NY-23 special election might not be over yet!

Washington — Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County.

As it turns out, neither was true.

…Now 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.

…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.

Okay, so that’s a 3,026 vote lead with just over 10,000 ballots left to count. Let’s see…x + y = 10,200…y = x + 3027…That means Hoffman needs 6,614 of those 10,200 votes. About 65%.

Not likely, I don’t think, but not impossible. Somebody check my math.

Now: the really interesting part is how Owens, the “winner,” was already sworn in and cast a vote for the health care “reform” bill over the weekend. According to the story, that’s all legal, since the election wasn’t being contested. But if Hoffman does turn out to be the winner, Owens would have to be “removed.”

But that’s not all the fun to be had with this story:

…Hoffman’s concession — based on snafus in Oswego County and elsewhere that left his vote undercounted — set off a chain of events that echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and helped secure passage of a historic health care reform bill.

…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.

Who’s in charge in Oswego County? Somebody do some research or something. Maybe somebody who bragged incessantly for a week about how he was actually on the ground in NY-23, actually reporting on the story should do that.

Of course, unless there’s a big surge of Hoffman votes in those absentee ballots – or unless some other “snafus” are found out – this will only have been hypothetical fun. Which is better than no fun at all, but still not what we’re looking for.

Memeorandum!