Cruz Supporters Try to Rig Delegate Count in Missouri

Unfair seems to be a buzz word for this primary election season and now Missouri has entered the realm of controversy.  The Missouri Republican Party had their county caucuses in April where they selected slates of delegates who will go to congressional and state districts to vote for the final delegates who in turn will go to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention

But some Republicans, namely supporters of real estate mogul Donald Trump, are raising their eyebrows at the process and raising their voices to oppose what they see as unfair practices.

Each state picks their delegates in their own way, as determined by the state party. In Missouri, a presidential preference primary is held. Trump edged out Cruz by fewer than 2,000 votes March 15, but he won in certain places to give him a favorable allotment of delegates. As the Missouri GOP site explains, Trump will receive 12 of Missouri’s 52 pledged delegates for winning the state and another 25 for winning five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts (five delegates per district). Cruz will get the other 15 pledged delegates for winning the other three congressional districts.

A contested convention could very well occur because of the neck and neck nature of the race.  If Trump does not make it to 1,237 needed delegates,  then this contested convention will happen.  Trump supporters believe the systems in place at the state level have effectively kept Trump form winning.

 However, officials within the party, including Missouri GOP Executive Director Jonathon Prouty, believe these fears are overblown, especially because delegates have yet to be selected. CD conventions are held April 30, and the state convention is not until May 23.

“Somebody might be trying to make a prediction by who they saw elected at the county caucuses, but those delegates, the national delegates, have not been selected yet,” he said.

Pat Thomas, secretary of the Missouri GOP, also notes that these rules have existed for quite some time and that the backlash against standard procedure may be a result of a bizarre election season that has brought in unlikely candidates and unlikely voters. Before this election season, she says, Missouri had no reason to change the procedures.

Until this tsunami of an election, when people paid less attention and there was usually a straight out candidate at this point, no one looked into the individual states and asked if the rules were fair.  No one cried foul if they felt their candidate did not receive the right amount of delegates due to the rules that were already in place.  But this time around, the frenzy that is Trump and the celebrity that has created such a firestorm of passion in his supporters, are taking notice about all things politics, perhaps for the first time ever.

“Usually, we’re in a situation where by the time Missouri votes, somebody gets 50 percent plus one or there’s really only one viable candidate left,” Thomas said. “This is just an anomaly of a thunderstorm that has hit that people just all of a sudden who have not ever or been very limited in the process. Maybe they’ve shown up and voted and now all of a sudden, they’re like ‘Oh but you’re hurting my rights,’ and we haven’t really changed anything.”

There is no easy answer to the at this point to make the process let convoluted, but changing the rules of the game mid-election cycle is also not the answer.  Ellisville, Missouri, Mayor Adam Paul thinks a “simplification of the process and delegate allocation” would reduce frustrations.

“A winner-take-all primary is a clear referendum of who we want to choose for our nomination,” he said. “Political Kabuki theater is thwarted when you have a process like that. I think that the process right now, it allows for political insiders and campaigns to push for a strategic movement that only benefits themselves.”

Pat Thomas disagrees with this solution.

“When [Trump] only won by 0.2 [percent], should we have been a winner-take-all?” she asked rhetorically. “Even now, the Cruz people are saying, ‘Well, is the proportional even really fair?’ because it’s so close.”

Paul stated, “This is going to throw a wedge into the Republican party if Trump wins the majority of delegates that are bound but not the nomination. I think that’s really going to damage the party.”

Source:  The Missouri Times  Truth and Action