The author of that anonymous letter onthe convention has came forward in the last hour, Steve Byas, a
decades long member of the GOP and a hard fighting patriot and
conservative. We had written about this electronic voting last Sunday and hopefully it encouraged Steve to speak out as he did.
The Steve Byas article above does an excellent job of pointing why we should reject David McLain's dictatorial edict and be forced into electronic voting. His logic is immaculate and it is well explained. But what do the GOP rules actually allow as far as voting?
The State GOP Rules, referred to as the GOP Rules for the rest of this article, are modular and very precise. These are not just rules, these are our bylaws that are filed with the Secretary of State of Oklahoma. The Rules cannot be bypassed by a vote, they can be amended by a vote only at a state convention and even then the new rules only apply AFTER that convention is closed.
The Chairman, the executive committee, nor the central committee have the power to override these rules, amend them, or suspend them. There is a convention rules committee that is allowed to create rules for the upcoming convention and these new rules are voted upon at the convention, but they CANNOT violate or surpass the GOP Rules.
The GOP Rules, Section 3 a state that any official of the Party that violates the right of any Republican member are liable to be thrown out of office. You simply cannot restrict any registered Republican from attending a meeting or a convention or doing any normal task at that meeting or convention. They can speak, they can vote, they can object and raise hell and anyone that removes them short of there being a crime committed can be removed from GOP leadership or position.
So restricting the rights of delegates is a sensitive matter and adding qualifications or requirements is de facto restrictions of rights.
Now, the Rules covers how voting is conducted in several sections each of which is modular in that much of the same structure and text is used for the precinct, county, congressional district, and convention sections. But, each section is crafted and applies to that section, the omission of a voting type must be taken as intended and each section MUST be applied as written to that specific type of voting.
Section 5 a covers the election of precinct officers and it is mute on how the election is conducted. A raising of hands, secret ballot, a roll call vote which is where the voter is required to be known, a standing vote, a voice vote are all legal and proper. As the GOP Rules don't delineate, Roberts Rules of Order (RRO) take over and can offer guidance. However RRO cannot supersede anything written in the GOP Rules. The only requirements are that you are a registered GOP voter and live within the precinct.
Next you have the County GOP officials that can be elected by roll call vote or secret ballot. No other forms of voting are allowed as the GOP Rules specifically speak to the manner of voting. The only requirements are that you are a registered GOP voter and live in that County. No further restrictions can be placed upon the candidates unless the GOP Rules are amended at a State Convention and even then the new GOP Rules are not in force until AFTER that convention is over with.
Rule 6 B 5 states that the County Chairman is the executive officer of the County delegation at any district or state convention. He is responsible for ensuring that the votes are cast properly and an important part of this is that within the County delegation all people carry the identical number or portions of a vote. One man, one vote, then when votes are tallied at a district or state convention the weight of a vote comes in, which reflects how many delegate votes that County has. This is very important, this is the election fraud firewall for a convention vote.
Next up are the Congressional District Committees with the requirements that the candidates be members of that Congressional District Commmtte and live within the borders of that Congressional district. The GOP Rules are silent on how they are elected other than the requirements of being a candidate so RRO can provide guidance.
Now we are down to the election of the state GOP chairman and vice chair. Section 10 G covers the election and it is at the State biennial Convention, and MUST be elected by roll call vote. Remember a roll call vote is a recorded vote. Each County MUST provide a written list or a spoken list of how many votes for each candidate. Secret balloting is not allowed as it is not mentioned as it specifically was at the County GOP Conventions.
The next relevant GOP Rule is 16 G, which lays out exactly how County, Congressional District, and State Conventions can vote. First each delegate from within a precinct or county MUST have the same number or fractions of a number of votes as the other delegates from that unit. Only full votes and half votes are allowed unless the actual ballot counts are allowed for computerized counting, AKA an excel spreadsheet. Next, each delegation has the right to pass on the first time their county is called, delaying the recording of their vote until their county is called on the second pass at which time they vote or lose the right to vote on that issue.
Now this right to pass on a vote gives some advantages and note that the delegation has the right to pass, not the individual delegates. And who is the executive officer of that delegation? The County Chairman or he can hand it off to the Vice Chair.
So ONLY the executive officer of a County may submit votes. This is the fraud cut out, they will know if there is a problem, too many votes, a stranger that isn't a legal delegate, that they are actually living in their county, are they even on the floor of the convention? The individual convention delegate CANNOT cast their vote individually and it doesn't matter if the County Chair gets a list afterward or not. Voting individually is prohibited.
In section 19 there a way for commmittes to pass additional rules but the new rules may NOT collide with the existing GOP Rules. The new rule cannot be inconsistent to the existing rules. If the rules are silent upon an issue, a new rule can clarify, an example of changing a venue on a convention which it seems must be done this year thanks to the incompetence of David McLain.
Now finally, how can these GOP Rules be changed? By a majority vote at a State Convention, by submission of two methods.
First by submitting the Rule Change to the State Executive Board but it must be submitted 30 days prior to the Call for Convention which is put out by the State Executive Board because it must be included with or without a recommendation. That appears to state that ANYONE could submit a new rule or change. The important word is “shall”, they MUST submit the Rule change.
The second method is by a County or Congressional District Rule submission. The Rule change must be voted upon and passed and submitted before five days after the passing convention. The difference between the second method and the first method is that it is a violation of Rule 3 a, a Rule change submitted by a County or District Convention that isn't added to the next GOP State Convention is grounds for removing the Chairman and anyone else involved in not submitting the Rule change.
Now, in that David McLain Dominion Style Voter Fraud letter it mentions “Our Executive Committee and State Committee both approved this company for last year's convention.” Yet the GOP Rules themselves were not amended and IF they were it would require a long list of requirements including a majority of the state committee members being present, 2/3rds vote after a ten day notice in which the specific language of the Rule changes were given ten days in advance. Obviously this wasn't done and if it was done it was last year yet the current rules do not reflect any changes of such.
And is it even possible to do? A majority would be 51% of the committee members. Say there are 70 counties with organized County GOP organizations, chair, vice chair and two committee members are elected so you are at 280 members.
Add 149 legislators, at least state wide office like Governor or Labor Commissioner, corporation commissioners, now you are at 437 and add another 20 from the various sub chapters of the GOP, College Republicans and the like. 457, but there are a handful of Democrat legislators, say 20 to 25, so down to around 430 total members so you would need 215 attending the State Committee meeting to even bring up a Rule change and get 142 votes that are needed to change the GOP Rules.
Not happening. Didn't happen. Or the GOP email would have mentioned the GOP Rules were changed instead of saying the company was “approved”.
This is an illegal power grab by Chairman David McLain and Shane Jemison no doubt egged on by Senator Lankford. Everyone remembers right before the Convention two years ago we had Lankford pushing to strip power from the grass roots and install an executive director that was controlled by the State Committee.
What you need to do if you are a delegate or just a concerned citizen is to raise hell, call the GOP and blast them, call your legislators and ask them to intervene and stop this power grab. If you are a delegate be ready to vote for a motion to strip this electronic voting from the Convention Rules and replace the paper ballots that we have used for years safely and efficiently and be ready to pass a resolution stripping anyone associated with it from the Republican Party Leadership.
And remember that Ronda Vuillemont Smith, the Christina aboltionist lady, and Jenny White have all be as silent as a church mouse on this issue.
