Saint Petersburg Straw Poll Cheating?

[kylejack]

Okay, let's be level-headed about this, but does this video show what I think it shows? It shows a man doing something on the voting machine and then tossing a card onto the platform behind the machine several times, and the guy running it comes by and picks up the card each time. Next to him is a kid looking suspicious. Those look like Mitt Romney stickers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rm-AUMJ6Ko

Could there be a reasonable explanation for this?

[Hayek's Heroes]

Nice.

[kylejack]

I wonder how this one operated. Maybe the people running it allowed people to vote as many times as the number of tickets they had bought? That would be silly, but it would mitigate the damage to Romney a bit, I guess. Anyone participate in this? I haven't seen results yet.

[kylejack]

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

1st I want to make one thing very clear. RON PAUL OWNED ST. PETERSBERG!!!!! I mean this very literally when I say there was NO other signs in the entire city for ANY other candidate besides Ron Paul. ONLY in a little piece of grass by the water, in which they were doing the straw poll, did Romney or Ghooliani have any signs. And even there those were lost in a sea of bright blue Ronnies!!!

There was 3....THREE!!!!!! airplanes flying over head with different Ron Paul messages. HUGE banners with Ron Pauls portrait hanging from the sides of buildings. Hundreds of supporters EVERYWHERE waving signs and wearing Ron Paul clothing. The fact of the matter is, there just wasn't any support for any other candidate! Literally. NONE!!!!

SO.....at the straw poll of course there were just hundreds of Ron Paul supporters. He was winning by a landslide. THEN we noticed Mitt Romney had set up a little table and was passing out tickets by the dozens. Now you have to realize that it was $20 a ticket, so the Romney camp must have shelled out the big bucks because they had two bags FULL of tickets that they were giving them to their few supporters MULTIPLE TIMES!!!!!!

I WANT EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND THIS>>>>>>>

MULTIPLE TIMES!! YES! You heard right. Mitt Romneys camp was blatantly getting people to vote multiple times and the local GOP did NOTHING to stop them. I watched it all with my own eyes, otherwise I would not be writing this right now. THAT IS THE AMERICA WE ARE LIVING IN FOLKS!!!!

They just don't care about any kind of democratic process. It only mattered that Mitt come out on top. When they saw Ron Paul would win by a landslide, they had to do something. Only thing to do though was cheat. And they obviously had no problem doing that. It was truly unbelievable. We were all in shock! -MeetUp

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=52011

[MsDoodahs]

I wonder how this one operated. Maybe the people running it allowed people to vote as many times as the number of tickets they had bought? That would be silly, but it would mitigate the damage to Romney a bit, I guess. Anyone participate in this? I haven't seen results yet.

I saw some comments about this somewhere else, and I also asked what the rules were.

If the rules were a vote per purchase, no problem Mitty is the rich boy candidate.

If the rules were a vote per person, big problem - they cheated.

Gotta know the original rules before we can assess what we are seeing.

:)

[kylejack]

Romney wins straw poll
The results are in from the rained out "Have Your Say Tampa Bay" straw poll and debate watch rally:

Romney 893; Paul; 534 Giuliani 39; Huckabee 37; Thompson 21; McCain 12; Hunter 4; Keyes 2; Tancredo 1.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2007/11/romney-wins-str.html


If you attended the Straw poll, then you would know that support for Ron Paul CLEARLY outnumbered any of the other candidates.
Unfortunately, many individuals were buying more than one ticket/vote. That is why the results are skewed!!!
Easily, Ron Paul had %70 of the support at the vote today.
R. Paul support was and is loud, proud, and growing in numbers!

Posted by: Mike | November 28, 2007 at 11:40 PM

[...]

I too saw people purchasing more than one ticket, and voting multiple times. What the hell is up with that??? I have plenty of money, I would have gladly skewed the results towards my candidate!!! I was out there all day, Paul supporters heavily out numbered all the other candidates... this smells funny.

Posted by: Cedric | November 29, 2007 at 01:27 AM

[...]

St. Pete Straw Poll

From my personal observation, I'd say that Ron Paul supporters out numbered all other candidates' supporters that showed up by at least 5 to 1. In fact, I joked to a couple of people that Judy Riuliani actually had some supporters there and that I'd seen both of them.

The straw poll was really abused, however. I saw one lady voting 3 different times for Romney. The first time she bragged that she was voting 80 tickets. My friend Mike videoed yet another Romney supporter (or were they paid personnel of his campaign staff?) voting multiple tickets, too. I'll ask him to post this on youtube.com. So my question is this: is Romney buying the straw poll?

I think this is a lot different from having 500+ supporters show up, some of them driving hundreds of miles. There were easily 5-10 times as many Ron Paul supporters there than Romney supporters.

What good is a straw poll if it can just be bought by someone with a lot of money? What does it really show?


Posted by: Dan | November 29, 2007 at 01:49 AM

[...]

I was there and personally watched a woman recieve a stack of voting cards two inches thick and vote for Romney over and over...then she got back in line. When asked what she was doing she said, "That's how politics works" Mitt spent a ton of money to buy this straw poll. There is video to prove it. You may be able to do this here but come election day one person=one vote (unless Diebold machines are used)

Ron Paul supporters were not rude, spewing 9/11 or anything else. There was one guy dressed strange but that was it. Old people, young people, sharp dressed, casually dressed. Anyone who was there can't deny that Paul's support is diverse and passionate. What a joke this straw poll was. I hope the GOP enjoys my $20 because they won't be getting anymore. I'm a lifelong Republican and fed up with this kind of politics.

Posted by: | November 29, 2007 at 07:13 AM

[kylejack]

St. Petersburg straw poll votes were cast with cash
By DAVID DeCAMP, Times Staff Writer
Published November 29, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG -- Mitt Romney bought himself a victory in the straw poll for Republicans at a rain-shortened barbecue in Vinoy Park.

Romney got 893 votes, besting second-place Ron Paul's 534 -- despite Paul's shuttling in supporters on a rented trolley and shuttle. The campaign had a plane sporting pro-Paul slogans and a boat touting him, too.

In fact, Paul supporters dominated the crowd, which reached an estimated 1,000 people. Tickets for votes cost $20 each.

So how did Romney do it?

"I voted 20 times," Derek Gyongzois, 38, of St. Petersburg exclaimed after casting ballots.

He said he works as a volunteer for the Romney campaign (and begged a reporter not to print his 20-vote tally). Did he buy the tickets?

"I don't have that kind of money," Gyongzois said.

He wasn't the only person voting more than once. Paul supporter Mike Wagner, 57, of St. Petersburg: "This thing is rigged."

Before rain cut short the event, Paul supporters were voting multiple times, too.

"This is the best election money can buy, anywhere," said Pinellas County GOP chairman Tony DiMatteo, a Rudy Giuliani supporter. Giuliani received 39 votes, followed by Mike Huckabee's 37 and Fred Thompson's 21. John McCain had 12; Duncan Hunter, 4, Alan Keyes, 2; and Tom Tancredo, 1.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/29/Worldandnation/St_Petersburg_straw_p.shtml

LMAO

[MsDoodahs]

Sounds like it was a vote per purchase.

In that case, Romney's deep pockets bought him the win.

Glad we forced him to spend a bunch.

:)

[kylejack]

Sounds like it was a vote per purchase.

In that case, Romney's deep pockets bought him the win.

Glad we forced him to spend a bunch.

:)

Yes, we didn't catch him with his hand in the cookie jar, but at least it makes him look silly.

[Cindy]

I saw some comments about this somewhere else, and I also asked what the rules were.

If the rules were a vote per purchase, no problem Mitty is the rich boy candidate.

If the rules were a vote per person, big problem - they cheated.

Gotta know the original rules before we can assess what we are seeing.

:)

Why bother with rules "that nobody but Romney seemed to be aware" that allow one vote per purchase. What use is a straw poll or a win in it if it can be bought by one person and not earned by a valid showing of actual supporters?

Lets face it, most people hearing about the results will not know what happened there, even if it was allowable and they will think, Romney had the better voter turn out. It is a terribly misleading practice and that GOP group should be ashamed of themselves!!

Had I known that ahead of time, I doubt I would've given the GOP my $20.

Oh well, I did get a lunch out of it and Paul did come in second because we bought tickets and voted.

[MsDoodahs]

Why bother with rules "that nobody but Romney seemed to be aware" that allow one vote per purchase. What use is a straw poll or a win in it if it can be bought by one person and not earned by a valid showing of actual supporters?


If voting worked, it would be illegal.;)

What the powers that be do not want you to realize is that voting is a charade intended to soothe the dumbmasses into thinking they have some say in what is shoved upon them.

Works quite well, don't you agree?

:)

[RobertJ]

Allowing multiple votes makes doing the vote meaningless to begin with. But we will be on alert from now on, you can take that to the central bank.