playpianoking
Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2011
- Messages
- 501
Remember, Colorado is a closed caucus to republicans only, and registration ended two months ago.
Out of the 632 eligible republicans in my precinct, only 30 showed up. My gf and I arrived at 6:15, (45 minutes early) and there were already four people that arrived ahead of us. While sitting down, a Romney guy in my precinct was passing out official Romney literature on people's desks. I made up copies of two charts on a sheet of paper ahead of time that my gf handed out. It listed the checkmark or 'x' of the candidates on issues, and my other chart listed the funding backers of Romney vs Paul (banks vs the people). She handed them out and we tried to seem like we weren't together so that way when I ran as a delegate people wouldn't know that I supported Paul, since our delegates our unbinding.
My gf and I volunteered to be the vote counters and handled picking up the ballots as well as tallying them aloud in front of everyone for both the preference poll and delegates.
But anyways, in the beginning the chair lady made us vote before anyone spoke for a candidate. Some objected and said that makes no sense and it's true that everyone has heard of this persuading before the vote. But it didn't really bother me as I wasn't going to speak for Paul as advised since I was going to run as a delegate and it would out myself. So we took the poll on our paper ballots.
My gf and I walked around and picked them up from people face down and then I put them all down on my desk and gave them to her as I picked them up one by one and read aloud for everyone. To my surprise, the first two votes were Ron Paul, and I thought oh, these are probably ours and they are just next to each other because we are sitting next to each other and that's the order they were picked up. Then, Newt Gingrich, and then a lot of Romneys, and then a string of Ron Paul after another. Turns out, Paul & Romney tied 11 a piece, Santorum 5, and Gingrich 3.
When it came time to run as a delegate, after each speaker (five of us ran) someone asked who do you support? lol. When it came to me due to the fact that Ron Paul was in a tied majority, I said that I support him. Everyone voted for two people as we would have two delegates and two alternates. I ended up in a tie for the #2 delegate and the rules say that we do a coin toss... I call heads and of course it was tails. So I'm the first alternate to the county convention.
Long story short, all of the Romney supporters voted for those delegates and the Paul supporters for me & the other proclaimed Paul supporter. This is why voter turnout is key. I'm so ashamed that so many people stayed at home. Just one more supporter would've turned the majority in favor of Paul and we would've had the two delegates hands down.
In summary, print out literature to bring to your caucus, and make sure you know who the Paul supporters are. You only want the best to run as a delegate, otherwise, the votes will be split. This is why my gf didn't run as a delegate even though we initially planned it. It was obvious who the two Paul supporters were that were running for delegate, so if another entered it would dilute our support.
Hope this helps!
Out of the 632 eligible republicans in my precinct, only 30 showed up. My gf and I arrived at 6:15, (45 minutes early) and there were already four people that arrived ahead of us. While sitting down, a Romney guy in my precinct was passing out official Romney literature on people's desks. I made up copies of two charts on a sheet of paper ahead of time that my gf handed out. It listed the checkmark or 'x' of the candidates on issues, and my other chart listed the funding backers of Romney vs Paul (banks vs the people). She handed them out and we tried to seem like we weren't together so that way when I ran as a delegate people wouldn't know that I supported Paul, since our delegates our unbinding.
My gf and I volunteered to be the vote counters and handled picking up the ballots as well as tallying them aloud in front of everyone for both the preference poll and delegates.
But anyways, in the beginning the chair lady made us vote before anyone spoke for a candidate. Some objected and said that makes no sense and it's true that everyone has heard of this persuading before the vote. But it didn't really bother me as I wasn't going to speak for Paul as advised since I was going to run as a delegate and it would out myself. So we took the poll on our paper ballots.
My gf and I walked around and picked them up from people face down and then I put them all down on my desk and gave them to her as I picked them up one by one and read aloud for everyone. To my surprise, the first two votes were Ron Paul, and I thought oh, these are probably ours and they are just next to each other because we are sitting next to each other and that's the order they were picked up. Then, Newt Gingrich, and then a lot of Romneys, and then a string of Ron Paul after another. Turns out, Paul & Romney tied 11 a piece, Santorum 5, and Gingrich 3.
When it came time to run as a delegate, after each speaker (five of us ran) someone asked who do you support? lol. When it came to me due to the fact that Ron Paul was in a tied majority, I said that I support him. Everyone voted for two people as we would have two delegates and two alternates. I ended up in a tie for the #2 delegate and the rules say that we do a coin toss... I call heads and of course it was tails. So I'm the first alternate to the county convention.
Long story short, all of the Romney supporters voted for those delegates and the Paul supporters for me & the other proclaimed Paul supporter. This is why voter turnout is key. I'm so ashamed that so many people stayed at home. Just one more supporter would've turned the majority in favor of Paul and we would've had the two delegates hands down.
In summary, print out literature to bring to your caucus, and make sure you know who the Paul supporters are. You only want the best to run as a delegate, otherwise, the votes will be split. This is why my gf didn't run as a delegate even though we initially planned it. It was obvious who the two Paul supporters were that were running for delegate, so if another entered it would dilute our support.
Hope this helps!
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