County Republicans to elect delegates

WORLAND – The Washakie County Republican Party Precinct Caucuses will be Monday Feb. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the Worland Community Center Complex and delegates will be elected to go to the county convention and then on to the state convention.

“A precinct caucus is very important for all the citizens of Washakie County to get their input in to how they want the county run, how they want the state run and ultimately … the presidential votes and U.S. House of Representatives,” Washakie County Republican Party Chairman Fred Frandson said.

Delegates who will be elected at the Washakie County Republican Party Precinct Caucus will be pooled and be elected to go to the county convention on March 12 and then from there go to the state caucus and then the national convention, Frandson said.

“Delegates to the state convention are elected by the county conventions. Delegates to the county convention are elected by precinct caucuses in their respective counties,” Frandson said.

“It’s grass roots coming from the ground up and gives a chance for everybody to have their say,” Frandson said.

“The Republican National Committee sets the size of each delegation by using a formula that rewards state parties for electing Republicans. In 2016, Wyoming is entitled to 29 delegates and 26 alternates,” Frandson said.

“The delegation from Wyoming, the least-populous state, would get 10 delegates at large, three for the state chair and members of the national committee, three for its one seat in the U.S. House, 6 because it voted for Romney, one for electing a governor, two for electing a member of Congress, two for electing a majority of both houses of the state Legislature, and two for electing both United States senators. Thus it would receive 29 delegates,” Frandson said.

Each precinct will have its own meeting and elected delegates. The precinct caucus elected delegates to go the county convention.

The county convention will be held March 12, though it has not been called yet, Frandson said.

“The committee men and women voted on in the last election will automatically be selected to go to the state convention,” Frandson said. “Additional delegates [from each precinct] will be voted on and will go to the county convention and have their say.”

There are five precincts in Washakie County and there will be five separate precinct caucus meetings on Feb. 29, Frandson said.

“Typically … we take that [number of delegates] of committee men and women has in a precinct and vote on that same number of delegates to go to the county convention so it’s fair,” Frandson said.

A precinct caucus addresses platforms and resolutions.

“There will be platforms and resolutions,” Frandson said. “Platforms are the timeless platforms that the GOP party stands for. Resolutions will be concerns of the citizens about happenings that go on today in this county and the United States.”

How resolutions are heard and go to national level

“Resolutions will come out the precinct and … then they will get submitted to precinct chairmen, and then the chairman will submit those to county chairman at county convention for consideration by all the county delegates at county convention. From there they get voted on or amended and get sent off to the State Republican Convention and from there then they go to National Republican Convention and get voted on there,” Frandson said.

The county convention is followed by the state convention and the state convention will be held April 16, with the national convention July 18 - 21 in Cleveland, Ohio, Frandson said.

No presidential voting in Wyoming

“Wyoming does not hold a presidential primary, so voters will not see names of presidential candidates on their August 16, 2016, primary election ballot. Candidates for U.S. President, nominated by their national party conventions and independent candidates will only appear on the Wyoming general election ballot,” Frandson said.

“Because Wyoming is a caucus/convention state, the recognized political parties in the state (Constitution, Democratic, Libertarian and Republican) certify their nominees for president to our office following their national conventions,” Frandson said

Tom Wiblemo, Executive Director for Wyoming Republican Party, said, “Delegates do not cast their vote for president in the primary until the national convention in July.”

Matt Micheli, Chairman for the Wyoming Republican Party, said the delegates no longer use straw polls [unbinding polls] because the Republican National Committee passed a bylaw in 2012 after the election.

This bylaw was passed after the 2012 election because in Iowa Rick Santorum came in first and [former] Gov. Mitt Romney came in second, but in the actual delegates that came out of Iowa were almost all Ron Paul supporters. The straw poll had no bearing on who his delegates were.

“In 2012 after that election at the national convention the Republican National Committee passed a new bylaw ... that said if any state party does a vote at the precinct level then that vote has to be binding for delegates to go to national convention,” Micheli said.

The national election is Nov. 8, 2016.