Louisiana Once Again Under Fire in Caucus Debacle: Ron Paul Campaign Cries Foul

First, second, third?  US Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul and his supporters believe he could very well have come in first in Louisiana's caucus this week.  With pivotal delegates at stake, Louisiana means a lot to the Paul campaign as his fellow Republicans rev up for Florida.  But a Caucus controversy is brewing and this has quite a few Ron Paul supporters up in arms.

Those voting in the Caucus have compared the process to pre-Iraq invasion days when Saddam Hussein would receive 100 percent of the vote. 

Tim Utz is a precinct captain in Columbia Heights, Minnesota concerned on how the election results are being handled in other states (please note we incorrectly stated he was a voter in Louisiana).:

You know when you smell a fishy odor there is always fish. Just now, I called the Louisiana Republican Party inquiring about the election results from earlier this week. A spokesman said they are waiting on the parishes in each parish of the state to verify voter eligibility. The timing of verification is not in the control of the republican party, additionally she said currently the parishes are focused on the 2/9/08 election day indicating no resulted are expected until sometime way past super Tuesday.

I then called the Louisiana state attorney generals office and explained my call. I am looking for timing on the states part to verify the voters for the republican election. The fourth person I had contact with took my number and said an assistant’s attorney will call my back. I got the best runaround at the attorney generals office; no one seemed to have an answer or solution for my inquiry.

Earl, from the attorney generals office just returned my call. He sent me to the commissioners of elections office at 1-800-883-2805. Now I am sent to voter registers office. Voter’s registration office sent me to another department who said the Republican Party has to directly request each parish verify names. In addition, the parishes are very busy now and not able to take time for verification. I am told the Republican Party can purchase a list of eligible voters at any time and self verify eligible voters.

In conclusion, Ron Paul may be 1st place in Louisiana and controls associated delegates. The Republican Party in Louisiana chooses to wait on each parish for voter verification. Additionally the action by the Republican Party is resulting in a willful delay of election results until well after Super Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Ron Paul campaign released the following statement:

the Ron Paul presidential campaign calls 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."

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