More bases for Maine caucus complaints from Ron Paul (with 2 updates)

In addition to the issue about whether weather-postponed Maine GOP caucuses will count in the final tally, Ron Paul supporters have some additional bases for complaint.

One involves what happened in Portland on the final caucus day.  A major part of the procedure involves the selection of delegates to the state GOP convention, where the delegates to the national Republican convention would be selected. The Republican nominee must capture a majority of delegates at the national convention.

As the Washington Post reported,

Party officials announced at the end of the Riverton Elementary School caucus that there had been a discrepancy in the final tally of state delegate ballots, and that they had received 19 more ballot sheets than they had the green index cards that voters turned in when they took their ballots. That meant that the results of Portland’s state delegate race – at least, for the time being – were void.

Another emerging issue involves different tallies being reported from some of the caucuses. Often there are errors that are corrected later. However, a poster (Larry in Augusta) at the conservative site As Maine Goes suggests that these may be skewed toward Romney, since the Portland numbers were incorrect and Waterville results were omitted.

Looking at both list below is the error rate and if these errors hold true throughout the State Paul will win the straw poll by six votes. Paul would have 2289 to Romneys 2283. How does this sort of thing happen? 15% of Ron Paul votes were not counted…..

Mistakes were made. Something tells me it’s going to take some time to sort this out.

Updates:

As reported by the Village Soup, Waldo County is “mostly missing from official GOP results.”

Maine GOP Chair was on the Howie Carr show. You can listen here.

Amy Fried

About Amy Fried

Amy Fried loves Maine's sense of community and the wonderful mix of culture and outdoor recreation. She loves politics in three ways: as an analytical political scientist, a devoted political junkie and a citizen who believes politics matters for people's lives. Fried is Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. Her views do not reflect those of her employer or any group to which she belongs.