Chaos At The AZ GOP Convention
By Elisha Dorfsmith
May 13, 2012
When I was elected as a county delegate to attend the Arizona GOP Convention I expected things to be somewhat chaotic and intense. What I didn’t realize was just how disorganized and unprofessional the convention would be. Countless parliamentary errors, miscounted votes and a complete disregard for ballot security.
Ron Paul supporters were clearly loathed and not welcome to the event which was held at the Grand Canyon University Arena. Speaker after speaker told the crowd that we had to unite behind Mitt Romney. We were told that no Ron Paul signs were allowed inside the convention and yet a large Romney banner hung above the convention floor.
Contrary to the fast spreading media lie, Mitt Romney’s son was NEVER booed off the stage. I woke up this morning and saw that headline plastered all over the news. Every honest person at the convention will tell you that Josh Romney concluded his speech and only walked off the stage after he was finished speaking. Yes, there were some boos when he told the crowd to unite behind his father’s delegate slate but nothing overly disruptive.
The first major mishap of the morning was when the AZ GOP read the credentialing report. They reported that Coconino County only had 12 delegates show up. We had 19 and an over vote would have thrown our County results out completely. That would have been a disaster since 11 of our 19 delegates were Ron Paul delegates. Our County Chair stood up and yelled the correct number and the GOP took her word for it without ever questioning or knowing who she was. She could have said 30 and she could have said 3 and they would have believed her.
Throughout the convention the GOP chair kept trying to change the order of business. At one point we were told to break off into our respective congressional districts located throughout the arena and even outside. Then we were all called back to the main delegate floor because procedural rules had been broken.
When we were finally able to break into our congressional districts to vote we found Romney supporters breaking the rules by placing copies of the Romney slate on every chair. I overheard one of the girls who was placing the slate on the chairs say that if anybody asked tell them that people left the slate there when they were called back to the main floor.
Once voting started we were not allowed to leave our congressional district. The Flagstaff group was in CD-1 which comprised of around 150 delegates. We had to vote for an A and B delegate (two separate ballots). On the first ballot the Ron Paul delegate was Jill Skayfel. The vote was taken and about 30 minutes later the results came back.
It was reported that Jill had only received 15 votes. We knew for a fact that she had received at least 11 votes from Coconino County alone! The place went crazy and someone called for a show of hands. My wife Cindy was chosen to count the hands and as soon as the hands went up you could hear Romney delegates gasp. Hands were raised everywhere. A total of 51 people had voted for Jill Skayfel.
The room erupted and GOP representatives were called. My wife Cindy was chosen to accompany our county vice chair Drake Mitchell to talk to GOP representatives and staff. The GOP wanted to run the ballots through the machine again and if the results matched, call it good. That would have resulted in some kind of riot. Cindy and Drake fought hard for an honest recount and eventually representatives from the Paul and Romney campaigns observed the recount and reported the correct results.
Second place went to Coconino County chair Diana Arendt who received 48 votes. She was part of Romney’s slate. Ron Paul delegate Jill Skayfel had won by 3 with 51 votes.
When all was said and done, the two CD-1 votes took around 4 hours to complete. On the second ballot, Ron Paul delegate John Lesko won. I can’t speak for the rest of the congressional districts (I hear Ron Paul won CD-5 too) but CD-1 came through for Ron Paul and I am so proud of our people for standing up and demanding an honest and accurate vote count.
After the CD votes we returned to the main floor to vote on at large delegates and National Committeeman and National Committeewoman. By this time, Romney delegates were leaving in droves.
When voting started we noticed that several LD chairs were picking up ballots for people in their LD who had already left. Ballot box security was minimal and nobody questioned or double checked the LD and County chairs when they picked up ballots for their people. We observed several people walking to the ballot box with handfuls of ballots. Security and staff refused to do anything about it.
By this time we had lost the quorum and a needed runoff vote for National Committeewoman was never taken. We also never received the results of the at large delegates and alternates we voted on. Even if we did receive the results, I don’t think anybody has ANY faith in the voting machines and the tabulation process. The chair adjourned the meeting and results will be released when nobody is around to contest the vote.