Posted on 03/22/2016 10:43:27 PM PDT by M. Thatcher
Just got back from my caucus... My head is still spinning.
Check in was slow but reasonably controlled. Super-long lines. I've never seen turnout like this.
Got my credentials, but no presidential ballot. They said those would be delivered to our caucus room.
Got to my caucus room. I counted about 120 people there (no idea how many were actually registered and credentialed).
We elected Precinct Officers, State Delegates, and County Delegates - the typical incompetence and ignorance of the rules you'd expect to see from volunteers, but all went somewhat smooth.
...Then came the Presidential Ballot.
Someone shows up with a stack of probably 250 ballots. The precinct chair splits them up, and starts handing stacks of them out and tells people "take one and pass it down".
No checking credentials, IDs, NOTHING.
I'm sitting at the end of a row and people start handing me stacks of extras. I literally had over 50 ballots in my hand.
[link to i.imgur.com (secure)]
We were told to mark our vote and place our ballot in a tin can. They then asked for a volunteer to hold the can. At this point, most people filed out the door.
I cast ONE vote, then stuck around to see what would happen with the votes.
About 15 minutes later, with only about 10 or so people milling around, someone walks in the room with an envelopes STUFFED full of "absentee" ballots - some envelopes having 2-5+ ballots.
I raised a question and said, "isn't there an absentee process already in place? Didn't people have to register for that last week?" and was told "Oh no, this is completely normal".
As I've mentioned in other threads, I was in Party leadership for 6 years and no, this is absolutely not normal.
I then asked if I could observe the vote count, and I was told my observations where not needed and to leave the area while the ballots were being counted.
I left the room (things were already a complete Charlie Foxtrot at this point) and wandered over to my friends precinct caucus to see if it was just as much a cluster.
His caucus was just getting to the presidential ballot, and as I walked in the door I was handed ANOTHER BALLOT.
Again, no credential check, no ID check, NOTHING.
No, I didn't vote again...
I went back to my precinct and they had the results: 74% Cruz 14% Trump 11% Kasich
Now just imagine this kind of outright incompetence/manipulation happening in 2000 precincts across the state.
As I left the building, I started overhearing results coming back from other precincts... Overwhelmingly numbers for Cruz... Like 70-90% or more. (In one precinct Cruz got around 100, Trump had 2, Kasich 0)
Bottom line... They basically are going to post whatever the hell numbers they want.
There were no apparent controls, no credential checks, no ID checks, and ballots being handed around like napkins.
UTAH RESULTS ARE A COMPLETE SHAM
And it just cost Trump 40 delegates.
I’ll second Piranha’s post #4 and add sending this to True the Vote as well..
Consider this:
If Trump was not a candidate, who would be the Republican Candidate at this time ?
Would that candidate have a chance against Hillary ?
The Kansas Caucus was just as disorganized and it made me wonder about our results.
CGato
Sounds like the Beehive state GOP could screw up a two car funeral.
John Smith for POTUS write in is probably high there.
Holy Hell.
Thank you for posting this completely unbiased report. Based on your posting history, I totally trust your honesty.
That's a fact!
It was predicted Utah would be a sham. Not to mention some odd people live up there.
You are kidding, right?
Bottom line... They basically are going to post whatever the hell numbers they want.
There were no apparent controls, no credential checks, no ID checks, and ballots being handed around like napkins.
UTAH RESULTS ARE A COMPLETE SHAM
I’ll hold my breath and wait for Cruz to condemn these tactics...
Well think about it, Cruz got away with murder in Iowa and now naked pictures? Media is gonna love it and Cruz won’t get attacked.
I really am amazed that Cruz has self destructed so much.
I guess you get extra ballots to cast for all your wives there.
#UtahValuesLOL
As they piously look down at Trump’s marital history...
And, as well, Roger Stone - Trump’s Security Vote force should be involved in this kerfuffle.
How did our country become so corrupt?
I didn't write it, genius. Check the link.
I meant about Mormons being honest. They have a persona of honesty but there is a lot of dishonesty. They are very Machiavellian, esp when dealing with ‘gentiles’ (all non Mormons even Jews).
A history buff, I see... :)
Mormons lie about their religion all the time. And they really lie to non Mormons.
my 2 cents worth:
I participated tonight in our local caucus, first time. (St. George, Precinct 08). I had to show my driver’s license before they would give me my color-coded name badge. Red meant you got a ballot tonight, Green meant you were registered online and therefore would not be voting in person. I guess these folks came for the excitement. lol
The gal running the event did a good job. She knew many people were there only for the presidential thing and not all the local delegate selections, etc. So after the formalities, she had someone offer a motion to move the presidential voting first, so we could leave if we wanted to. They handed out ballots only to people with red badges and we then put them in a box with a slot in it. They took the boxes to the hallway and counted them. One of the counters was my landlord’s daughter. After about 5 mins or so, they came back and gave us the count: Cruz - 58, Trump - 15, Kasich - 14. For the record, only Kasich made any in-person campaign appearances here. At that point, I left since this had already taken 40 mins of my time.
The demographics of my particular location reflected the results: 80% of the participants were at least 70+ years old, and this is the oldest part of St. George. This means this was among the most LDS areas in St. George by percentage and it is worth mentioning that a boatload of the names on the name tags were some of the oldest names in this town...descendants of original settlers. As I looked around the room, I truly had trouble identifying the 30 people who would have voted for anyone other than Cruz. The pressure here on people was enormous, not just Romney & Beck, but the local stakes (small neighborhood “churches”) have been pummeling the members for weeks.
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.