Posted on 01/26/2008 9:11:53 AM PST by FreeInWV
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that campaign for Republican US Presidential candidate Ron Paul is questioning results of this week's Louisiana Caucus. After all, this is the state that failed miserably to protect its citizens from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina (both before and after), pays its law enforcement officers the absolute lowest salaries, and has issued "sealed" arrest warrants for a few dozen online gambling operators after presumably coming under pressure from local casinos. The later became the State's number one priority, it seemed, following Hurricane Katrina. Go figure!
Now comes word that they have botched this week's Republican caucus. Surprised? Why should we be?
The Ron Paul presidential campaign Thursday called on the Republican Party of Louisiana to count all the ballots submitted in the state’s January 22 caucus.
“The failure of the Louisiana GOP to properly determine who was and wasn’t eligible to vote threw this entire process into disarray,” said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. “The party needs to correct this mistake by counting all the votes immediately, and releasing the results.”
Due to mistakes by the Louisiana GOP, hundreds of voters were forced to file provisional ballots, including nearly 500 that could change the outcome of the election. According to party officials, caucus locations relied on a voter list from November 1, 2007 despite the fact that under caucus rules, voters must have registered Republican by November 30, 2007. The Louisiana Secretary of State reports that 2,709 Louisiana residents registered as Republican between November 1, 2007 and November 30, 2007.
In multiple instances, state-certified Ron Paul delegates that were on the ballot were forced to file a provisional ballot despite the fact they were pre-approved as delegates.
The Louisiana State GOP also changed the rules at the last minute to allow other candidates to file more delegates. At the time of the original January 10 deadline, Ron Paul had the largest number of delegates pledged to him. The party then changed the rules to give other candidates until January 12 to file more delegates.
Just how important is the Louisiana Caucus?
Ron Paul supporter, Darryl DeMaris, explained to Gambling911.com its significance in the whole scheme of things.
"I was on the ballot and understand the process here. The big problem with the Caucus is that registered Republicans as of Nov. 30 were allowed to take part, but the LA GOP only had a list current as of Nov. 1st. Many Ron Paul supporters had not changed parties by that time, but had (done so) by the 30th deadline. Over 500 of the 10,000 voters were provisional.
"The provisional ballots are key and could swing up to 31 national delegates Ron Paul's way. 31 would put him in second or third nationwide at this point."
That is:
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWI2ZjJkOTI2MzBlMTgxNmY2ZDQ3ODlmZTZkOTE5YjY=
ping!
Politics is a dirty business and an especially dirty one down in Louisiana.
Maybe. Since I do not watch cable (or network) news at all, I cannot verify that statement.
But, maybe they just want to cover those that actually have any kind of a real chance to win the nomination? Paul has no chance.
Has there been any state that Ron Paul hasn’t challenged the results? He just needs to go away!
Maybe after but how before?
This is false. The reslts including the provisional ballots are in and did not change the results hardly at all. Ron Paul was clobbered by the uncommitted prolife slate. Mitt Romney, who spent a lot of money was completely shut out. McCain actually picked up the most delegates of any candidate, but even he was far behind the uncommitted slate.
The results are at lagop.com
Exactly, I think they’re forcing a recount in NH also...for a man no one knows and has about 8% or so of the overall national vote.
He should follow Kucinich’s lead.
How many Democrats voted for Reagan?
My guess the ballots will be counted and the tally corrected at some point if the provisional ballot voters can be proven to have registered by Nov. 30, 2007.
snip:
Results from Louisiana’s Republican caucuses and the informal designation of a “winning slate” are preliminary for two reasons. First, about 500 individuals who attended the event were not shown to be registered Republicans on voter rolls. These individuals were allowed to cast “provisional ballots,” which are not included in the current candidate tallies on the Party’s website, www.lagop.com. State Party staffers are currently working with Registrars of Voters across the state to confirm with certainty the eligibility of each candidate. Party rules allow anyone registered as Republican as of November 30, 2007 to have voted last evening. The ballots of those who are found eligible will be added to totals and the outcomes of some races in Districts 1,2,4,5 and 6 could possibly be affected.
Second, candidates for delegate in Louisiana historically have run on one or another slate, but not on multiple slates. This year, however, many candidates ran on more than one slate. There was significant overlap, for example, between the McCain and Pro-Life slates. So determination of which slate won is not as clear-cut. But it certainly appears that the order was: Uncommitted Pro-Life, McCain, Paul, Romney, others.
end snip:
Well, since at least a quarter of the officers in NOLA were dead people, they can't complain. Their daily living expenses are extremely low.
Darn straight.
You are a troll
LOL!
Don’t know why that picture changed.....
It was the flooded buses in N.O.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.