Reflection on the YRNC 2007's Controversial Straw Poll

According to the anonymous blogger in my last post, I assume it is a cloaked post by someone (possibly a Democrat) down in Broward County that the irregularities should be minimal. The whole point is that there were acknowledged irregularities that were not corrected by the officials, but rather once they were pointed out to them in protest!

Can you count how many YRs are in line at the Straw Poll? Hint he is wearing a cowboy hat and he is an awesome YR!

Here are the nine steps of what transpired at the YR Straw Poll last night. and what went on. Although many will say straw polls are just for fun, tell the people in Iowa that on August 11th that since it is just for fun, why are they charging 20-30,000 to set up a tent? Straw Polls when administered properly can serve a useful role. I would like to think that this was an anomaly, but if you look at the results of CPAC's poll this year, from what I am told the same issues occured at SRLC, straw polls are bought and sold all of the time. The difference here is that I tried to shine a light on what was going on and failed. Anyway, after the fact, here is what went on. I drafted a motion to bifurcate the results between YR Delegates and Total Votes. I drafted the motion under Rule 5.1.1. of the Convention Rules and planned to present it to ensure a publication of the YR voting results.

As a caveat, the controversy over the Straw Poll is an issue with its administration and set up rather than the Broward County officials who gave of their time to try and assist an official vote. The main issue is that they were not provided the voter lists or an efficient method beforehand as to who to allow to vote.

Step 1: I was unable to find any published materials describing who could vote or not vote in the straw poll. The reason, of course, is that is was an ever changing standard. A member of the Convention Committee assured me when I asked that the straw poll voters would need to be Delegates, Alternates or have registered for the Convention and could not only attend the Romney dinner and then vote. Later, she checked on Saturday and told me that in fact dinner only guests could vote.

Step 2: I learned on Saturday morning that a number tweeners (12-13) had come to the convention on Friday with call sheets and scripts to call Romney supporters to pack the dinner and vote in the straw poll. Again, there are no issues with this except that when the organizers were confronted with this, they stated to me the Romney campaign told them that they were having another event in Ft. Lauderdale and it was for that event? Unfortunately, a fellow YR overheard clearly what they were saying and they were calling people to attend the YR dinner and vote in our straw poll.

Step 3: Drafted motion to present to the YRNF at its Saturday business meeting to (as a compromise) allow all votes to be cast and counted, but bifurcate the results between Delegate Votes and Total Votes. After searching high and low, I found a copy of the Standing Rules of the Convention, which said the motion should be on an official Motion Form. I complete the Form, made 50 photocopies passed them to the YRNF leadership and prepared to present the motion.

Step 4: Confronted angrily by the YRNC 2007 Chairman (a BIG Romney supporter) and another Conference Organizer (who was professional but also a BIG Romney supporter), they pressured me to drop the motion because: (1) it would never work because the YRNF and YRNC2007 were separate entities and so even if my motion passed, there was absolutely nothing the YRNF could do and (2) the second gentlemen said this will be controversial, people supporting my guy will rethink their support, you will make everyone look bad, for purposes of YR comity and professionalism don't do this. Well, I thought about it, especially not appreciating the YRNC Chair's unprofessional attitude, I turned the other cheek and withdrew the motion. Big MISTAKE! Lesson learned, when strong-armed tactics are applied, there is a reason for that...

Step 5: As you can see in these photos, the dinner was packed, but not with YRs at all. There were tons of persons well over 40 (the cutoff for YRs) and a number of children. All of whom supported Romney.

Step 6: ....and this is why you are reading this explanation of what really went down. Once Romney concluded his remarks and the voting commenced, the YR Convention organizers did not provide the Broward County Election Officials with any voter list, registration list or any method at all to check credentials of who was eligible to vote. More importantly, no safeguard was in place to ensure that the children and teens (not even eligible to vote yet in a real election) did not vote multiple times. You can see in one picture above of those in line and me asking questions from the left, there is only one YR in line at that moment. Although others surely paid for or had their dinner paid for, there was still no system to ensure that kids did not vote multiple times of that people did not stroll in from the hotel and vote as something neat to do.

Step 7: As you would think that my outrage would be enough, I spoke to multiple YRNC organizers, of course the Chairman of the Convention blew me off, but the new YRNF administration was very receptive and took me seriously because they obviously had not all committed to Romney. Anyway, due to the bogus nature of the straw poll, I would estimate at least half of legitimate YR delegates decided not to vote and went on down to the lobby, pool and adult refreshment locations.

Step 8: We attempted to obtain the results of the bogus straw poll when the poll closed at 10pm, but again we were snubbed and said poll results would be release tomorrow. An hour later, a media source provided me with the bogus results. So, I suppose Romney folks and certain others would receive the bogus results, but not an actual Delegate to the Convention. Classy. On Saturday night, I had been told by a convention organizer that an asterisk (*) would appear next to result for voter irregularities. Again, another statement that never saw the light of day.

Step 9: As a final note on this debacle, and let it be put behind us after this note. As the YRNC 2007 Chairman announced the Straw Poll results with Romney beating Fred and Rudy 168 to 103 to 34, audible boos and hisses were cast at this bogus result. Sweet redemption. :o) Can't wait to see the results of the Ames Iowa Straw Poll. Here is my prediction: Mitt wins $1st$ place.