Robin
February 5th, 2008, 10:43 pm
Some of you may be wondering why there has been no posting on the Maine Republican Caucus that took place February 1-3. The simple answer is that the Maine Republican party doesn't seem to have a results oriented system.
Here's how it happens or in this case doesn't.
There are 21 delegates at stake in Maine. 3 are party leaders who can choose to vote for whomever they desire regardless of the vote. In other words they are superdelegates.
The other 18 are chosen in a unique system. In 414 towns all over the state Maine Republicans who either registered by January 16 OR who signed up 30 minutes before the caucus voted their preference for a candidate. Delegates were then chosen seperately to attend the state convention February 9th. These delegates could, but do not have to, state their preference before they were elected. Here is the catch, these state convention delegates don't have to vote for who their town's overall preference is.
These State convention delegates then meet next week and they will vote for the 18 who will attend the National Convention. Again, these delegates do not have to state a candidate preference and can vote how ever they like when they get to the National Convention.
Therefore, it is possible to report voting totals but as to how many delegates the individual candidates will recieve is anyones guess. Or at least it would be possible to report the vote totals except there are still, two days later, 25% of the towns who have not reported their vote totals.
This is a good arguement in my mind for standardizing the process for the 2012 election.
Here are the results as reported by the Maine Republican Party as of 4:14pm February 4th, their most recent posting.
Thanks for your understanding on this issue.
ResidentJeff
*Candidate..........**Votes.....**Percent*
*Mitt Romney.......**2,716...........**52%*
John McCain.......1,102............21%
Ron Paul................948............18%
Mike Huckabee......292..............6%Undecided.............113...............2%
Write-in.....................9...............0%
Fred Thompson........4................0%
Rudy Giuliani............3................0%
Alan Keyes................1................0%
John Cox...................0................0%
Duncan Hunter..........0................0%
Total...................5,188.............100%
More... (http://lincolnparkforums.com/showthread.php?t=15739&goto=newpost)
Here's how it happens or in this case doesn't.
There are 21 delegates at stake in Maine. 3 are party leaders who can choose to vote for whomever they desire regardless of the vote. In other words they are superdelegates.
The other 18 are chosen in a unique system. In 414 towns all over the state Maine Republicans who either registered by January 16 OR who signed up 30 minutes before the caucus voted their preference for a candidate. Delegates were then chosen seperately to attend the state convention February 9th. These delegates could, but do not have to, state their preference before they were elected. Here is the catch, these state convention delegates don't have to vote for who their town's overall preference is.
These State convention delegates then meet next week and they will vote for the 18 who will attend the National Convention. Again, these delegates do not have to state a candidate preference and can vote how ever they like when they get to the National Convention.
Therefore, it is possible to report voting totals but as to how many delegates the individual candidates will recieve is anyones guess. Or at least it would be possible to report the vote totals except there are still, two days later, 25% of the towns who have not reported their vote totals.
This is a good arguement in my mind for standardizing the process for the 2012 election.
Here are the results as reported by the Maine Republican Party as of 4:14pm February 4th, their most recent posting.
Thanks for your understanding on this issue.
ResidentJeff
*Candidate..........**Votes.....**Percent*
*Mitt Romney.......**2,716...........**52%*
John McCain.......1,102............21%
Ron Paul................948............18%
Mike Huckabee......292..............6%Undecided.............113...............2%
Write-in.....................9...............0%
Fred Thompson........4................0%
Rudy Giuliani............3................0%
Alan Keyes................1................0%
John Cox...................0................0%
Duncan Hunter..........0................0%
Total...................5,188.............100%
More... (http://lincolnparkforums.com/showthread.php?t=15739&goto=newpost)