51ST DISTRICT CONVENTION TOMORROW

Tomorrow is the 51st District Republican Convention between Julie Lucas and Faisal Gill.  Here's the latest:

When the forms were first filed with the credentials committee (Delegate Michele McQuigg and Supervisor Mike May) Gill held a commanding 745-511 advantage.  Since a committee review has taken place, his advantage has slipped to 625-498.

While every candidate has some slippage with duplicates or voters who have recently moved and not re-registered, Faisal's fall of 120 Delegates is a huge one. 

In addition there are serious rumors of fraud going around before the convention.

Some of the reason for Faisal's fall was a number of forms turned in for the convention were duplicates.  But here's where it gets really bizarre.  Some of the forms that were for the same person had DIFFERENT SIGNATURES.  It's hard to explain different signatures in any way other than someone signing for people.  If you are required to prefile paperwork- imagine the advantage one candidate would get by not having to go around and collect forms, but instead just have someone sign for them. 

You would think that any voter with two forms- and two different signatures would be excluded, but they will be allowed to vote after signing a statement that one of the forms was signed by them. Unbelievable.

In addition, Faisal filed 68 Delegate forms where the voters were not yet registered.  However, it is impossible to register in Prince William right now because the books are closed for the 30 days before the primary.  So the rule RPV decided on was IF a voter has submitted an application before May 20- they could vote.  That allowed 17 of the 68 Delegates to vote, and 51 were disqualified.

However there is no way to know if these 17 Delegates will actually be accepted by the registrar after the books open again.  Because the books are closed, they won't be checked for felonies, if they are citizens or other eligibility requirements.  So it appears Gill may get 17 votes that may not even be legitimate voters, and there is no way to verify they will be before the convention.

This whole convention has been stunning.  While Mike and Michele are trying to be fair, they are being far too lenient with these issues, and if Faisal Gill prevails by a small margin it will be hard to view him as a legitimate GOP nominee.

Comments

[fannyboy]

When is fannyboy going to get Warner of the Week?

hmmm...I think I remember the same issues with a VYD convention...

[novamiddleman]

This just proves once again how messed up the convention process truely is.

I grew up in Maryland. You registered in one party and you voted in the primary. Virginia should go to party registration and primary for selection instead of all of this convuleted stuff.

[GinterParked]

Novamiddleman is right... this cycle is about as sloppy as I can remember... back to the 70s.

I believe though that the perception of irregularities now is due to the fact that a hell of a lot more people are paying attention.

Ben certainly has a partisan bias. We all do. And, Ben, you're not a journalist. Anyone who thinks you are is a fool.

Ben *is* a blogger who is following in the footsteps of the activists who worked to build the structure of freedom of information laws around the nation. Many of them were just weird, but ultimately they brought about a change which benefits us all today.

Is Ben weird? Dunno. But if his information is accurate, it tires me to listen to spin.