Per the Las Vegas Sun website, the fairness of today's Clark County Convention is being called into question. So far, there is no evidence that the chaos is benefiting one side over the other.
The seventeen county conventions today select delegates to the state convention in April. The votes of Clark County Dems are to be tallied by Congressional District so that the convention properly selects delegates separately from each of the 3 CDs found in Clark County. About 70% of the delegates to the state convention will come from Clark County.
Nearly 7500 county convention delegates were selected in Clark County on Jan. 19. Some of them, though they showed up an hour before the convention starting time of 10am, have been prevented from voting.
According to the Las Vegas Sun's J. Patrick Coolican:
. . .
It’s difficult to get reliable information here, but it seems that indeed 8,000 people have shown up, according to Sun columnist Jon Ralston, who got the information from a Bally’s security official keeping track for the fire marshall. Unfortunately, the hall only fits 5,000 — more fodder for the many vocal critics of the county party.
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Ralston also reports that Obama won Washoe by 200 votes out of 1300 cast. He won big up there on caucus day.
Getting on the floor this morning was a challenge. The Paris-Bally’s parking garage was full, the hallways crowded with people very much on edge, wondering what the heck is going on. Check back through the day for more updates.
More:
. . .Early results: 1,320 for Clinton, 1,261 for Obama.
Roughly 8,000 people showed up, according to a Bally’s official, so those aren’t complete results. . . .
Las Vegas Sun's Michael Mishak reports:
Outside the hall, Clinton and Obama supporters are united in their anger over being turned away from the convention.
Take Marguerita Flowers, for one. An Obama precinct captain at Precinct 2480, Flowers was elected as an Obama delegate on caucus day. She received a postcard from the party confirming her status and telling her that her “declaration of support for a candidate must be noted by 10 a.m.” She showed up just before 9 a.m. today, only to encounter a massive line. What happened? She was turned away and demoted to “alternate” status. . . .
Marisa Calderon, a Clinton precinct captain at Precinct 1163, tells a similar story.
She and her husband, Christopher, both of whom were elected delegates on caucus day, pre-registered with the party. . . . Marisa was demoted to an alternate. . . .
“I think I’m going to vote Republican I’m so mad,” said David Collins, a Clinton delegate who was also demoted to alternate.
A motion to suspend the voting by putting the convention into recess until another day failed.
Delegates to the state convention are unbound, meaning they can change their minds up til convention day in April. If there is still a race in April, their preferences will determine the 25 pledged delegates Nevada sends to Denver. Because of the strength of Obama's support in the regions having odd numbers of delegates (Washoe (3) and Rural (1)), if Obama were to win at the state convention, even by one vote, his campaign would likely get 14 delegates.