VoluntaryMan
01-28-2008, 04:08 PM
Caucus results upset state Paul supporters
By: Emily Holden
Posted: 1/28/08
Presidential candidate Ron Paul, R-Texas, is issuing a formal complaint against the Louisiana Republican Party for an alleged improper handling of the voting process for the Jan. 22 caucus.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had the highest number of delegates elected in district caucuses across the state. Andrew Axsom, state field director for the Paul campaign, said if the caucus had been managed appropriately, "Paul would have taken first place in the state."
Morgan Wright, from District 6 in Baton Rouge, was a Ron Paul delegate in the state Republican caucus. But when he arrived at the caucus on Jan. 22, his name was not on the roll of registered Republicans.
At closed caucuses, registered voters from a party from select delegates to vote at the state convention for that party. Most delegate candidates advertise their support for a particular platform or presidential candidate. The party chooses which candidate to endorse based on the delegates' votes.
Wright said he went to vote an hour and a half into the caucus. He said all votes for him up to that point were considered invalid because he was not on the roll.
Voting at the caucus consisted of selecting 15 delegates from a list. Wright said any ballots that contained a vote for him were considered incomplete because they were filled out for only 14 registered delegates. Wright said these ballots were thrown away until he proved he was registered.
Wright, outraged at the system, said after showing his registration card that listed him as a Republican since Nov. 29, one day before the deadline, the ballot counters started tallying his votes.
"I have a lot of faith in our voting system and our diplomatic system. And when I see people doing things that undermine the system we have within our country, I'm absolutely appalled by it," he said.
"The whole idea is just to preserve our legal rights to challenge," said Joe Becker, chief legal adviser for the Paul campaign.
He said the campaign would wait to consider legal action.
"We finished in second already, but I suspect if the party had followed their own rules and enforced their own rules, then we would have finished first," Becker said.
Axsom said the complaint against the party consists of three parts.
The first includes a claim of a violation of party rules in failing to alert the general public two months prior to the registration deadline.
"The first time the Republican party mentioned anything to the public about the caucus was Dec. 17," Axsom said.
The second part of the complaint is that the party pushed back the original Jan. 10 deadline to register as a delegate.
Paul campaigners registered 15 delegates in each district so voters could choose a full slate of delegates who supported Paul to vote for him at the Republican state convention.
Axsom said he submitted a full slate of Paul delegates to the party on Jan. 8. He said the list included 105 delegates and 70 alternates.
Axsom said six hours after he handed in the slate, Louisiana Republican Party communications and political director Jason Doré sent out a news release extending the deadline to register delegates until Jan. 12. Axsom said extending the deadline gave supporters of other candidates the opportunity to fill up their slates.
Doré was unavailable to comment.
Phillip Joffrion, Republican Party office volunteer, said the deadline was pushed back because of complaints that there was not adequate notification of the delegate registration deadline. He said news releases sent out to major media sources were not published in time to advertise the deadline.
"Jason Doré did not amend the rules. He decided to arbitrarily take authority into his hands that we believe he did not have," Axsom said.
Axsom said the only way to push back a deadline would be through the Rules Committee at the state convention or the Republican State Central Committee.
Doré may have been acting on the word of the Republican State Chairman, who holds more authority.
The Paul campaign argues any delegates registered after the original deadline should be thrown out.
The final complaint against the party pertains to events that occurred at the caucus.
The caucus was closed, meaning only registered Republicans could vote. Many Paul supporters were originally members of a different political party and were required to change their party affiliation by Nov. 30 in order to vote at the caucus.
Axsom said when he filed delegates with the party on Jan. 8, he was told 70 or more of the delegates were not on the Republican rolls. He said he was told the list of registered Republicans was most recently updated in May.
Axsom said he returned the next day with copies of voter registration cards proving the delegates had changed their party affiliation and verification print-outs from the Registrar of Voter's office.
On Jan. 9, Axsom said he was told the list had been updated to Nov. 1 and that the list at the caucus would be from Nov. 30, the last day to change party affiliation.
On the day of the caucus, about 500 voters, including some delegates, were asked to cast provisional ballots because they were not on the list of registered voters.
Joffrion said party affiliation changes after Nov. 1 were not entered into the Republican Party system in time for the Jan. 22 caucus. He said it would have taken weeks to enter all the changes into the computer.
The Paul campaign claims most of the provisional voters were registered before the deadline.
Doré e-mailed a news release Friday stating that "approximately 2/3 of the individuals who cast provisional ballots statewide have been identified by registrars of voters as Democrats or Independents." The e-mail said these ballots would be thrown out.
Joffrion said many of the disqualified ballots were for Paul delegates.
Chris Hand, assistant organizer for the Ron Paul Coordination Meetup Group, said Paul campaigners were allowed to observe the ballot tallying after the District 6 caucus and there seemed to be no foul play with the official ballots.
Provisional ballots were not counted at the caucus but held until party affiliations were verified.
The Republican party released unofficial results of the caucus, excluding provisional votes, while the registration problems were sorted.
Updated results did not show any major differences. Joffrion said he stresses the tallying process was inhibited by voters who were found to be registered for a different party or simply not registered to vote.
Paul campaigners want the provisional votes to be recounted by an unbiased third party after party affiliation registration for each voter has been rechecked.
Wright said most Paul supporters understand there is not a high chance that Paul will become president but taking the state would have sent out a message to the public.
"We're not radicals. We're just regular people," he said.
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By: Emily Holden
Posted: 1/28/08
Presidential candidate Ron Paul, R-Texas, is issuing a formal complaint against the Louisiana Republican Party for an alleged improper handling of the voting process for the Jan. 22 caucus.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had the highest number of delegates elected in district caucuses across the state. Andrew Axsom, state field director for the Paul campaign, said if the caucus had been managed appropriately, "Paul would have taken first place in the state."
Morgan Wright, from District 6 in Baton Rouge, was a Ron Paul delegate in the state Republican caucus. But when he arrived at the caucus on Jan. 22, his name was not on the roll of registered Republicans.
At closed caucuses, registered voters from a party from select delegates to vote at the state convention for that party. Most delegate candidates advertise their support for a particular platform or presidential candidate. The party chooses which candidate to endorse based on the delegates' votes.
Wright said he went to vote an hour and a half into the caucus. He said all votes for him up to that point were considered invalid because he was not on the roll.
Voting at the caucus consisted of selecting 15 delegates from a list. Wright said any ballots that contained a vote for him were considered incomplete because they were filled out for only 14 registered delegates. Wright said these ballots were thrown away until he proved he was registered.
Wright, outraged at the system, said after showing his registration card that listed him as a Republican since Nov. 29, one day before the deadline, the ballot counters started tallying his votes.
"I have a lot of faith in our voting system and our diplomatic system. And when I see people doing things that undermine the system we have within our country, I'm absolutely appalled by it," he said.
"The whole idea is just to preserve our legal rights to challenge," said Joe Becker, chief legal adviser for the Paul campaign.
He said the campaign would wait to consider legal action.
"We finished in second already, but I suspect if the party had followed their own rules and enforced their own rules, then we would have finished first," Becker said.
Axsom said the complaint against the party consists of three parts.
The first includes a claim of a violation of party rules in failing to alert the general public two months prior to the registration deadline.
"The first time the Republican party mentioned anything to the public about the caucus was Dec. 17," Axsom said.
The second part of the complaint is that the party pushed back the original Jan. 10 deadline to register as a delegate.
Paul campaigners registered 15 delegates in each district so voters could choose a full slate of delegates who supported Paul to vote for him at the Republican state convention.
Axsom said he submitted a full slate of Paul delegates to the party on Jan. 8. He said the list included 105 delegates and 70 alternates.
Axsom said six hours after he handed in the slate, Louisiana Republican Party communications and political director Jason Doré sent out a news release extending the deadline to register delegates until Jan. 12. Axsom said extending the deadline gave supporters of other candidates the opportunity to fill up their slates.
Doré was unavailable to comment.
Phillip Joffrion, Republican Party office volunteer, said the deadline was pushed back because of complaints that there was not adequate notification of the delegate registration deadline. He said news releases sent out to major media sources were not published in time to advertise the deadline.
"Jason Doré did not amend the rules. He decided to arbitrarily take authority into his hands that we believe he did not have," Axsom said.
Axsom said the only way to push back a deadline would be through the Rules Committee at the state convention or the Republican State Central Committee.
Doré may have been acting on the word of the Republican State Chairman, who holds more authority.
The Paul campaign argues any delegates registered after the original deadline should be thrown out.
The final complaint against the party pertains to events that occurred at the caucus.
The caucus was closed, meaning only registered Republicans could vote. Many Paul supporters were originally members of a different political party and were required to change their party affiliation by Nov. 30 in order to vote at the caucus.
Axsom said when he filed delegates with the party on Jan. 8, he was told 70 or more of the delegates were not on the Republican rolls. He said he was told the list of registered Republicans was most recently updated in May.
Axsom said he returned the next day with copies of voter registration cards proving the delegates had changed their party affiliation and verification print-outs from the Registrar of Voter's office.
On Jan. 9, Axsom said he was told the list had been updated to Nov. 1 and that the list at the caucus would be from Nov. 30, the last day to change party affiliation.
On the day of the caucus, about 500 voters, including some delegates, were asked to cast provisional ballots because they were not on the list of registered voters.
Joffrion said party affiliation changes after Nov. 1 were not entered into the Republican Party system in time for the Jan. 22 caucus. He said it would have taken weeks to enter all the changes into the computer.
The Paul campaign claims most of the provisional voters were registered before the deadline.
Doré e-mailed a news release Friday stating that "approximately 2/3 of the individuals who cast provisional ballots statewide have been identified by registrars of voters as Democrats or Independents." The e-mail said these ballots would be thrown out.
Joffrion said many of the disqualified ballots were for Paul delegates.
Chris Hand, assistant organizer for the Ron Paul Coordination Meetup Group, said Paul campaigners were allowed to observe the ballot tallying after the District 6 caucus and there seemed to be no foul play with the official ballots.
Provisional ballots were not counted at the caucus but held until party affiliations were verified.
The Republican party released unofficial results of the caucus, excluding provisional votes, while the registration problems were sorted.
Updated results did not show any major differences. Joffrion said he stresses the tallying process was inhibited by voters who were found to be registered for a different party or simply not registered to vote.
Paul campaigners want the provisional votes to be recounted by an unbiased third party after party affiliation registration for each voter has been rechecked.
Wright said most Paul supporters understand there is not a high chance that Paul will become president but taking the state would have sent out a message to the public.
"We're not radicals. We're just regular people," he said.
http://www.lsureveille.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=f35bdb92-089d-42a9-a4c5-53f6faf9f036