Not that it really matters at the end of the day, but a voter counter suggests that a counting mistake may have given Romney the win.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Caucus night was chaotic in many places, with hundreds of voters, candidates showing up and the throngs of media who followed. The world’s eyes were on Iowa. But in the quiet town of Moulton, Appanoose County, a caucus of 50 people may just blow up the results.
Edward True, 28, of Moulton, said he helped count the votes and jotted the results down on a piece of paper to post to his Facebook page. He said when he checked to make sure the Republican Party of Iowa got the count right, he said he was shocked to find they hadn’t.
“When Mitt Romney won Iowa by eight votes and I’ve got a 20-vote discrepancy here, that right there says Rick Santorum won Iowa,” True said. “Not Mitt Romney.”
True said at his 53-person caucus at the Garrett Memorial Library, Romney received two votes. According to the Iowa Republican Party’s website, True’s precinct cast 22 votes for Romney.
“This is huge,” True said. “It essentially changes who won.”
The results haven’t been certified yet and mistakes happen. I mean we are talking a few votes here. But it is certainly an interesting thing to keep an eye out.
True went on to say…
True — who said he’s a Ron Paul supporter — hopes it was a simple mistake.
“I imagine it’s a good possibility that somebody instead of hitting 2 might have hit 22 by accident,” True said. “I hope so.”
But he said he won’t stop talking about it until the state — by his count — gets the numbers right.
“Numbers that I personally witnessed being counted and assisted in counting and am certain are right,” he said.
They need to get it right of course, but Santorum got all he needed from Iowa. An actual win is almost irrelevant at this point. But it would still be nice.
January 6, 2012 at 2:41 am
Uh oh, CMR just posted an article based on info provided by a Ron Paul supporter. Isn't that considered blasphemy here? If he were an Obama supporter, it might not have been quite so shocking.
January 6, 2012 at 9:51 pm
I'm not sure that this is irrelevant. We have one man saying his results were skewed to favor Romney. The media has been skewing to Romney from day one. The GOP heads have been skewing to Romney.
I hate conspiracy theories, but sometimes people conspire. Did any other site in Iowa have the same problem?
January 6, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Well, the possible mistake is something totally possible– 2 vs 22 is a hand-jiggle. (as the guy points out himself)
It's not like they went from 8 to 25 or something; it's possible he's mistaken, as well, and just didn't keep very good notes. Sadly, both are possible because Santorum just wasn't that important. He wasn't hated, he wasn't widely loved, he just was.
January 8, 2012 at 11:28 pm
Don't worry, they love him in NH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxS93VJgpc0&feature=player_embedded