- Republican
National
Convention « Statement by
DC Delegates
MEDIA ADVISORY:
For Immediate Release: Thursday July 21, 2016
Contact: Chip Nottingham
We strongly object to the Convention Secretary's decision Tuesday evening to transfer all 19 of DC's delegate votes to Presidential nominee Donald Trump.
On March 12, 2016 nearly 3,000 DC Republicans participated in the DC Republican Party's Presidential Primary Election, many waiting hours to cast their vote. The results were clear and uncontested: Senator Marco Rubio earned 10 delegates and Governor John Kasich earned 9 delegates. No other candidate received enough votes to earn any delegates to the national convention. The DC delegates agreed to be bound to vote respectively for Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich at the national convention.
Tuesday evening, the DC Republican delegation formally declared its votes on the national convention floor for Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich -- consistent with the wishes of DC Republican voters. Unfortunately, the Republican National Committee Convention Secretary decided to take advantage of conflicting language in the DC Republican Presidential Convention and Delegate Selection Plan to (contrary to the longstanding interpretation of the DC delegation) unfairly determine that all 19 of DC's votes would be registered in support of Donald Trump.
Members of the DC Republican delegation immediately and loudly objected on the convention floor to the RN C's discretionary ruling. The DC delegates' objections were ignored.
Until Tuesday evening's roll call vote, the national RNC leadership clearly supported the principle that all delegates' votes should be counted consistent with the wishes of voters as expressed in the primaries, state conventions and caucuses. Affirmative binding of delegates to election results was also expressly adopted in the approved rules that specifically govern this
For Immediate Release: Thursday July 21, 2016
Contact: Chip Nottingham
STATEMENT BY DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOP DELEGATES REGARDING CONVENTION VOTING CONTROVERSY
The undersigned delegates from the District of Columbia to the 2016 Republican National Convention issued the following statement today from Cleveland, Ohio:We strongly object to the Convention Secretary's decision Tuesday evening to transfer all 19 of DC's delegate votes to Presidential nominee Donald Trump.
On March 12, 2016 nearly 3,000 DC Republicans participated in the DC Republican Party's Presidential Primary Election, many waiting hours to cast their vote. The results were clear and uncontested: Senator Marco Rubio earned 10 delegates and Governor John Kasich earned 9 delegates. No other candidate received enough votes to earn any delegates to the national convention. The DC delegates agreed to be bound to vote respectively for Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich at the national convention.
Tuesday evening, the DC Republican delegation formally declared its votes on the national convention floor for Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich -- consistent with the wishes of DC Republican voters. Unfortunately, the Republican National Committee Convention Secretary decided to take advantage of conflicting language in the DC Republican Presidential Convention and Delegate Selection Plan to (contrary to the longstanding interpretation of the DC delegation) unfairly determine that all 19 of DC's votes would be registered in support of Donald Trump.
Members of the DC Republican delegation immediately and loudly objected on the convention floor to the RN C's discretionary ruling. The DC delegates' objections were ignored.
Until Tuesday evening's roll call vote, the national RNC leadership clearly supported the principle that all delegates' votes should be counted consistent with the wishes of voters as expressed in the primaries, state conventions and caucuses. Affirmative binding of delegates to election results was also expressly adopted in the approved rules that specifically govern this
Convention.
We are deeply disappointed that the RNC reversed itself in order to unilaterally award the DC delegation's votes to a candidate who did not earn those votes, thereby effectively nullifying the results of the DC March primary election and the will of the voters.
We strongly object.
Signed by the following delegates from the District of Columbia -- all of whom were elected by DC Republican voters on March 12, 2016:
Christian Berle
Maureen Blum
Jim Conzelman
Rich Counts
Teri Galvez
Kris Hammond
Betsy Hawkings
Rachel Hoff
Peter Lee
Chip Nottingham
Robert Sinners
We are deeply disappointed that the RNC reversed itself in order to unilaterally award the DC delegation's votes to a candidate who did not earn those votes, thereby effectively nullifying the results of the DC March primary election and the will of the voters.
We strongly object.
Signed by the following delegates from the District of Columbia -- all of whom were elected by DC Republican voters on March 12, 2016:
Christian Berle
Maureen Blum
Jim Conzelman
Rich Counts
Teri Galvez
Kris Hammond
Betsy Hawkings
Rachel Hoff
Peter Lee
Chip Nottingham
Robert Sinners
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Copyright © 2016 Eric M.
Appleman/Democracy in
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