*Updated: February 6, 2012 2:40am
After all the chaos at the Nevada GOP caucuses, and more than 24 hours after the last vote was cast, the Nevada Republican Party has finally counted all the precinct votes and has released the unofficial numbers.
The unofficial final results as reported by KTNV channel 13News:
- Mitt Romney 50 percent 16,486
- Newt Gingrich 21.1 percent 6,956
- Ron Paul 18.7 percent 6175
- Rick Santorum 9.9 percent 3,277
Based on the final unofficial results, delegate distribution should be Romney 14, Gingrich 6, Paul 5, and Santorum 3. Voter turnout was 32,930, less than the 44,000 in 2008 and far less than the 60,000 predicted by the Nevada Republican Party for 2012.
Unofficial ballots were handed out, caucus goers who thought that they could show up anytime between 9:00am and 1:00pm were turned away at the doors after 10:00am when the caucus officially started, and at least one reporter was thrown out at a caucus site, and the morning had just begun.
Complaints from irate caucus voters were reported at dozens of caucus sites across the State yesterday. At least three caucus sites handed out unofficial ballots that were used by caucus goers to vote. One caucus site handed out handmade ballots.
A reporter from the L.A. Times, Ashley Powers, who had credentials from the Nevada Republican Party, was kicked out at the caucus site at Sun City Anthem.
At Saturday’s evening caucus at the Adelson Education Campus, which was meant for those who observed the Sabbath and could not caucus in the daytime, fights broke out, and dozens were turned away because they would not sign an affidavit which said that the reason they did not caucus in the morning was because of their religion. Many showed up to caucus because they had to work and thought they would be allowed in.
The Nevada GOP, who switched the caucus date twice, first because of Florida moving their primary date, and then a second time to appease the Republican National Committee in exchange for good seats at the National convention and upgraded hotels, obviously cared more about the perks that they will get at the convention in August, then they did about running a smooth caucus.
Amy Tarkanian, Chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party, who announced a couple of weeks ago that she would be stepping down as Chairwoman on February 5th, 2012, the day after the Nevada caucus in order to help her husband Danny Tarkanian run for Nevada’s new 4th Congressional District (CD4), couldn’t have timed her departure better.
For now, the Nevada Republican Party is a laughing stock in the local media as they await the next big story, at which time, this past weekend’s caucus will just become another bad faded memory.
Updated February 6, 2012 2:40am
*The Nevada GOP has has certified their caucus count.
Don't miss any of the Las Vegas Democrat Examiner articles: Click Subscribe and enter your email address or choose the RSS feed. Either way you’ll be alerted to the latest column when it's published. And don't forget to click Email to send this article to a friend.
Comments