Broken Rules and Ballot Harvesting

Below is a statement sent by the Lexington County Republican Party Chairman Mark Weber today, March 23, at 12:17am.

In this statement Mark Weber claims that continuing to accept P1 delegate forms under his personal timeline and discretion is permitted “per our state rule.”

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞. Posted below is a screenshot of our state rule, as well as a screenshot of our county rule. In neither is it stated that this process is under the Chair’s sole purview.

In the statement Mark Weber also specifies that this process will be conducted by himself and our secretary Sandy Wade to “ensure transparency.”

𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭.

In fact, so far 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 has been transparent.

John, our Third Vice Chairman who is in charge of membership and outreach, asked our secretary, Sandy Wade, for the list of new members after reorg and the make-up meeting to make sure they have been organized and added into our system properly. He requested this information on 3/11, the day after the make-up meeting. Helping this process has been part of John’s job as Third Vice Chairman for the past two years.

After several more messages requesting this information, John once again reiterated his request at our in-person steering meeting on 3/20. Sandy didn’t respond, but looked at Mark Weber, to which Mark responded that they would NOT be giving the new member list to John.

The reason they claimed for withholding the list was to prevent John and/or me from using it for our campaigns, falsely accusing us of using LCRP member lists for campaigning purposes.

Let me state here that the LCRP is not the only group that maintains a P1 list and other resources for campaigning purposes, and neither John nor I are have used party-specific information for our campaigns.

We had already made this clear, and yet Mark and Debbie continue to use their false accusation to justify withholding pertinent party information from a duly elected officer.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝟒(𝐜)(𝟏𝟎) 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 “𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 (𝟑) 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.”

During the 3/20 steering meeting John also asked if P1 forms had been accepted AFTER the 3/10 make-up meeting. Mark said yes. This was surprising to us as we had been told by leadership that the make-up meeting was the DEADLINE for delegate signup.

Debbie Heim who chairs the Rules and Resolutions committee, then stated that accepting P1 forms after make-up and the timeline for which to do so were under the Chair’s purview and discretion.

When I heard this information I was immediately suspicious, as common sense would tell you that accepting delegates under one person’s discretion is a recipe for fraud, and is very similar to Democrat ballot harvesting. Except this is worse, as ballot harvesting isn’t at the discretion of one person who is running for a position affected.

On 3/21 the day after our steering meeting, I read our county rules regarding this matter, and nowhere could I find the the rules state that forms can be accepted under the Chair’s discretion. I took a screenshot and messaged our steering chat asking for more clarification.

On 3/22 Debbie Heim responded by citing the state rules. Again, nowhere in her citation does the state rule confirm that accepting delegates is under the Chair’s discretion and charge. I have asked twice for further clarity and citation to a state or county rule which allows this. Non have been provided.

Furthermore, according to the state rule, any delegates accepted AFTER the in-person make-up meeting are prohibited from voting at county convention.

On 3/22 I requested that all forms accepted after the make-up meeting be shared with the entire steering body, with the proper notifications made as to their inability to vote, and I reiterated this request on 3/23.

This request has been met with silence.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐦.

They have failed to provide any citation to substantiate their claims and actions. Instead they have broken rules, created their own, and have refused to conduct this process in fairness and transparency.

Below I have posted Mark Weber’s statement, our county and state rules, as well as the steering committee chat where I sought further clarification.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫.