NY-23: Hoffman Trails by 2,940 Votes

There’s not much to report in the NY-23 absentee ballot count, where Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman continues to gain votes at a much, much slower rate than he needs to pull off the win. The Watertown Daily Times reports that Hoffman trailed Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) by 2,940 votes with only 5,570 ballots to be counted. That tally includes a big chunk of 360 votes from Jefferson County — the home base of failed GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava. The breakdown:

Doug Hoffman – 132 (36.7%)
Bill Owens – 115 (31.9%)
Dede Scozzafava – 113 (31.4%)

As I reported yesterday, these absentees so far have come from counties that Hoffman carried. The numbers really aren’t there for him. He netted 17 votes in a count of 360; that ratio, if extrapolated across the district, would leave him more than 2500 votes behind when the count ends.