County Republican delegates elected

WORLAND — Fifty Washakie County Republicans gathered at the Worland Community Center Complex Monday night to take part in the precinct caucuses including electing delegates to the county conventions.

Washakie County Republican Party Chairman Fred Frandson the Republicans Monday voted on numerous platforms and resolutions, as well as electing delegates to next week’s county convention. Frandson said they were still working through verifying the delegate list, but he said they could elect up to 36 and he knew they elected slightly fewer than 36 Monday night.

Washakie County Clerk and Republican Party Secretary Mary Grace Strauch said the 50 attendees at the caucuses was the “most by far we’ve ever had a caucus.”

There are 2,783 registered Republicans in Washakie County.

The delegates elected Monday will vote at the county convention for Washakie County’s alternate delegate to the national convention.

Each of the 23 counties, except Laramie County, are paired with another county. On alternating presidential elections, one county selects a national delegate and one county selects an alternate. Washakie County is paired with Hot Springs County, according to Frandson, and this year, Washakie County selects the alternate.

Confusion

Confusion over the precinct caucuses was magnified Tuesday with national and radio reports that Wyoming was participating in Super Tuesday. The Washakie County Clerk’s office took calls from potential voters seeking polling places.

Wyoming Republican Party Executive Director Tom Wiblemo said Wyoming’s precinct caucuses began Feb. 16 with the final date March 1. He said what possibly could have happened is national media outlets saw March 1 as the final caucus date and jumped at the assumption Wyoming’s system was part of Super Tuesday.

“We have three really big dates, the process starts with the precinct caucuses,” Wiblemo said.

The next big date is Saturday, March 12 when all 23 county Republican conventions will be held. Wiblemo said at that time, the counties will select 12 delegates to the national convention and 12 alternates.

Washakie County’s convention will be at 9 a.m. at Frandson Safety. While only the delegates can cast votes, the convention is open to the public.

Only the delegates selected at the precinct caucuses will be allowed to declare interest to be a national delegate or alternate, Wiblemo said. He said when they declare their interest they sign a paper stating who they would be voting for in regard to Republican presidential nomination.

Wiblemo said there won’t be a “winner” declared but rather each county will report who its delegate or alternate would be casting a vote for at the national convention in July in Cleveland.

Once a delegate declares for a candidate, they cannot change the declaration.

On April 16 in Casper at the Parkway Plaza, at the Wyoming Republican Convention, 17 more delegates and 14 more alternates will be elected to the national convention for 29 total delegates and 26 alternates.

Caucus news

Frandson said he had not been able to go through all the resolutions and platforms that each precinct approved to move on to the county convention. If approved at the county convention, the platforms and resolutions will go to the state convention.

The platforms, he said, are the standard Republican platforms. “They don’t change a lot from year to year,” he said. He added he has not seen anything “surprising on the resolutions.