Exit Polls Suggest GOP Straw Poll Had Discrepancies; Ron Paul Supporters Turned Away
By Vince Leibowitz on Sep 3, 2007 in 2008 Presidential Race, GOP Corruption & Scandals | | Sphere: Related Content |
A couple of interesting tidbits about the Texas GOP Straw Poll that was conducted over the weekend to report.
First, there is some video making its rounds that appears to show that the GOP was making an active effort to turn away Ron Paul supporters who had paid and registered for the poll. The video is below:
Regardless of whether or not you like Republicans or think Ron Paul is not a credible candidate (as we do), the fact that the GOP was turning away people who had registered is disconcerting.
Second, we’re told that the folks over at Vote Rescue conducted an exit poll which suggests a discrepancy in the results of the straw poll. From an email circulating around the web today:
The largest discrepency [sic] between our results and the official results was in Ron Paul’s totals. Our poll showed him coming in 2nd after Duncan Hunter with 90 (out of308)votes and 29.22% of the total; the “official” results showed him coming in 3rd with 217 (out of 1300) votes and 16.69%of the total.
As we hand-counted our results outside the main entrance of the Convention Center, (in full public view and being videotaped by Gregory), a delegate/voter approached our table and said he was puzzled that pencils were being provided for use in the voting room. He told us he reached for a pencil, then thought better of it since he realized his vote could easily be erased and changed, then got a pen to mark his ballot instead. He said that a selection of each was lined up on a table like so: “pen, pencil, pen, pencil, pen, pencil”. He commented that using erasable pencil for voting did not make sense to him. Another delegate/voter who came over to talk with us heard the first gentleman’s comment and, with a look of dismay, realized that she, too,had selected a pencil–and had used it. She said, “I can’t believe I was so stupid!”…In hindsight, it seemed peculiar to us that pencils were provided to voters at all since the Tarrant Party Republican Party Chair, Stephanie Klick, had told one of Ron Paul’s supporters that permanent ink pens would be used for marking the ballots
What we do know is that there were many vulnerabilities in the”chain of custody” of the official ballots from the point at which the election ended until votes were being counted; and that neither media, nor any citizen observors [sic] with videocameras (or otherwise) were allowed in the room where counting took place. Our videographers Terry Melton, Kathleen Winn, and Gregory Gory, as well as any other interested parties,had to satisfy themselves with quick glances through small windows in the doors of the counting room.
Interesting stuff, to be sure.
Popularity: 71% [?]
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Chris Elam | Sep 3, 2007 | Reply
#1) Yes, Ron Paul supporters were turned away after having pre-registered online with the Texas GOP. The video is clear about this. I can also attest that some (I do not know how many) people entered the convention center after the 10am cutoff. The standard for refusing entry was not uniformly applied.
#2) I personally served as the Ron Paul campaign’s poll watcher during the entire voting process in the Saturday straw poll. I entered the voting room 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the vote, and did not leave until immediately after the final numbers were tabulated, confirmed, and given to the program emcees. And I’d like to comment on the above…
“Another delegate/voter who came over to talk with us heard the first gentleman’s comment and, with a look of dismay, realized that she, too,had selected a pencil–and had used it. She said, “I can’t believe I was so stupid!”…In hindsight, it seemed peculiar to us that pencils were provided to voters at all since the Tarrant Party Republican Party Chair, Stephanie Klick, had told one of Ron Paul’s supporters that permanent ink pens would be used for marking the ballots”
None of the voters were forced to use pencils. They were initially provided along with pens to all delegates, on four rows of tables that were some 30 feet of total length. What was amazing to me, was that no less than half a dozen delegates sheepishly approached the Texas GOP staff with a ballot in one hand, admitting that they had marked their ballot for the wrong candidate and needed a new ballot. There may well have been others who made such a silly mistake, and were fortunate enough to have used pencils so they could erase any trace of their error. Having personally watched most of the voters and seen a number of the ballots - I can attest that the majority of the votes were cast by pen anyhow. However, once one of the delegates (who identified himself as a member of VoteRescue) raised the issue, the pencils were removed from the tables.
“What we do know is that there were many vulnerabilities in the”chain of custody” of the official ballots from the point at which the election ended until votes were being counted; and that neither media, nor any citizen observors [sic] with videocameras (or otherwise) were allowed in the room where counting took place. Our videographers Terry Melton, Kathleen Winn, and Gregory Gory, as well as any other interested parties,had to satisfy themselves with quick glances through small windows in the doors of the counting room.”
None of this is true.. The official ballots were placed in double-locked metal ballot boxes that were under watch and armed guard by Fort Worth police officers who had been instructed to not leave the ballots. Townhall.com media representatives were allowed inside during the vote counting and videotpaed the entire process. Observers from any of the candidate’s campaigns were allowed to come in and watch the vote process, permitted to stop and ask questions, and also allowed to walk among and inspect the 10 teams of 3 vote counters (30 total), who were unpaid volunteers from around the state, and which included at least one staffer from a GOP State Representative’s office. Both the Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter campaigns had poll watchers in the room during the entire ballot counting process, and were able to verify all steps of the process, and all vote totals.
The votes were removed from the locked ballot boxes in front of the police guards and poll watchers. They were distributed equally to the 10 groups of volunteer counters. Each group of counters had one person read off the name marked on the ballot, while the other two people made a tick mark on a sheet of paper next to that candidate’s name. The reader than sorted that ballot into a stack unique to that own candidate on their table. At the end of this process, the tallies were compared on the two sheets, and then the stacks were counted one-by-one to verify accuracy against the two identical tallies. One tally was then handed to one representative from the Texas GOP, and the other to Stephanie Glick of Tarrant County. All ballots were then placed inside a manila envelope, sealed, and a white label signed by each of the three volunteers was affixed over the envelope flap. The 10 tallies were confirmed by both campaign observers, members of the Texas GOP, and Stephanie Glick.
Several of the unpaid volunteers made mention to me personally that they are also general election poll watchers in their home counties, and are intimately familiar with the ballot security process. None raised any doubts or expressed concerns to me.
WhosPlayin? | Sep 3, 2007 | Reply
I guess then, this serves as a good example of the nature of polling to be very inexact. A better methodology would have been to have the pollsters select respondents at random and make note of the “no answer” respondents, adding that number to the margin of error.
Vince Leibowitz | Sep 4, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for pointing this out, Chris. We were just reporting what’s “out there” in circulation, so I appreciate you making these points.
I think the most disconcerting problem for the R’s is that the people were turned away. On the other, I assumed someone would step up and either agree or, as you have, refute the allegations.
I’ve also heard, however, that this was a huge financial boondoogle for the RPT and that Benkiser may be resigning (though not just because of this). Is it true the RPT lost a shitpot full of money they could ill-afford to part with?