From the first Morning Jolt of the week:
Not Even Record Turnout Can Dispel the Whiny ‘Voterless Elections’ Spin
“Voterless elections” is the new favorite rallying cry of the Trump campaign, repeated by the Drudge Report:
CRUZ CELEBRATES ANOTHER VOTERLESS VICTORY: NO ELECTION IN WY…
It’s absolute horse-puckey. There was a vote, at precinct caucuses March 1, and turnout was higher than anyone can remember. From the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, March 2, 2016:
Laramie County Republican Party Chairman Jared Olsen said he never has seen a turnout like Tuesday night.
Hundreds of people packed the College Community Center at Laramie County Community College to take part in the county precinct caucus.
All the parking lots around the building were full, and cars were parked on the shoulder of College Drive.
A line stretched out the door well past the original starting time of 6 p.m., pushing the beginning of the caucus about a half-hour late.
In an average presidential primary election, somewhere between 170 and 250 people show up, Olsen said.
This year the party checked in 778 voters.
And in the Casper Star-Tribune:
Hundreds of people filled a room and spilled out the door Tuesday night in Natrona County to voice their opinions on who should be the next president.
Natrona County Republican Party Chairman Bonnie Foster said she had never seen a crowd like this at the party’s precinct caucus…
Before the tally was taken, Foster asked for those who had never attended a Natrona County Republican Party event like Tuesday night’s to raise their hands.
Most of the hands in the crowd went up, all the way out the door.
The Wyoming model was similar to Colorado’s – precinct caucuses held March 1; then county conventions, and a state convention. Once again, this is all very clear if you bother to read the rules, posted online. The Trump campaign appears to have not bothered.
We know from recorded tallies that at the county conventions, there were 618 votes for Cruz delegates, 189 votes for Rubio delegates; 70 votes for Trump delegates, and 68 votes for undeclared delegates. That amounts to 65 percent for Cruz, 20 percent for Rubio, and 7 percent for Trump and undeclared. Out of 12 delegates that are won through this process, 9 are going to Cruz and one each is going to Trump and Rubio, and one is going uncommitted. (That amounts to 75 percent of the delegates for Cruz, and 8 percent for Rubio, Trump, and uncommitted.) If anybody’s getting unfairly hurt by this setup, it’s Rubio, not Trump. But that doesn’t matter. Trump continues to whine that he’s been robbed, even though he’s getting as many delegates as Rubio, who won almost three times as many votes.
“Look at what happened in Wyoming,” Trump told supporters in Syracuse, N.Y., while 475 Republicans in Casper’s Parkway Plaza convention center were marking their ballots. “Look at what’s happening in Colorado, where the people never got a chance to vote and they’re going nuts out there. They’re angry — the bosses took away their vote.”
Another fourteen delegates are determined by the 505 attendees of the state party convention, which was held Saturday. Ted Cruz made his sales pitch in person; John Kasich had local congressman Butch Otter address the convention; and Trump was supposed to have Sarah Palin… but she canceled Friday afternoon. A Trump delegate spoke in her place.
Cruz won all the available delegates from the state party convention. For anyone facing a defeat, “they cheated” is a lot easier to accept than “they did a better job than we did.”