NY-23: The final, certified count

The state Board of Elections has just certified the results of the 23rd Congressional District special election. There were minor changes to the final uncertified numbers the individual election boards gave me before Thanksgiving, but the winner is still the same.

Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, received 73,137 votes, or 48.3 percent of the votes cast. Conservative Party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman received 69,553 votes, or 46 percent of the vote. Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava received 8,582 votes, or 5.7 percent of the vote.

Forty-one percent of active voters in the district cast a vote during this election.

The margin of victory was 3,584 votes.

Mr. Owens received 6,589 votes on the Working Families Party line.

"Bill Owens is in Congress today because he connected with the voters in the north country on the bread and butter economic issues that working families are worried about," said Dan Levitan, a party spokesman. "We are proud that Working Families voters helped put Bill over the top."