Trump cries foul after Cruz takes all 34 delegates from Colorado

Erin Douglas

April 12, 2016

Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally in north Las Vegas the eve of the Nevada caucus, where he won by a large margin. (Photo by: Erik Petrovich.) — Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally in north Las Vegas the eve of the Nevada caucus, where he won by a large margin.
(Photo by: Erik Petrovich.)

After republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s resounding victory at the Colorado GOP Convention last weekend in Colorado Springs, the Colorado GOP’s twitter account tweeted “#NeverTrump,” according to a report from the Denver Post. The Donald Trump campaign has responded in protest, and Trump called the Colorado GOP Convention “rigged” and “a crooked deal.”

Cruz won all 34 delegates from Colorado, and only lost two alternates to his front-running opponent Donald Trump.

The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2016

Over 3,000 delegates attended the convention on Friday, according to an election volunteer. Over 600 delegates ran for a position as a national delegate on Saturday. To avoid splitting the vote, campaigns draft slates, which list names and numbers of people the campaign wants to attend the national convention. The Cruz campaign handed out sheets and hung signs with the slates both days. According to Cruz supporters, the Texas senator’s campaign in Colorado was very organized.

Impressive CO organizing by Cruz camp continues with these fluorescent orange slate shirts @ state convention pic.twitter.com/e8lItDxVHX

— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) April 9, 2016

In contrast, according to CNN, the Trump slates had multiple errors on Saturday: two delegate’s names included in the slate for the seventh district were not running in that district, and on the first slate printed by the campaign nearly 12 names did not match ballot numbers.

Ballots at the Colorado GOP convention only listed numbers and did not include the names of the delegates.

In addition to the mistakes by Trump’s campaign, the Colorado GOP did not list enough numbers on the third congressional district’s ballot on Friday, and instead told voters to treat the candidates as a write-in. This caused unrest from the audience, since according to yells from the crowd, there was no space to do so.

Counting ballots for over an hour now for 3rd congressional district, last of the day. #ColoGOPconvention

— Erin Douglas (@erinmdouglas23) April 9, 2016

The state republican party also neglected to list a bubble on the ballot for #379, a pledged Trump delegate. According to CNN, instead of #379, there was a second bubble for #378, an un-pledged delegate.

At the national convention July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump’s campaign could pursue the challenge with the credentials committee. If he wins the challenge, the committee could forbid improperly-elected delegates from voting.

Trump currently leads the republican delegate count at 743, with Cruz trailing at 545. The candidates need a total of 1,237 delegates in order to clinch the nomination.

Collegian reporter Erin Douglas can be reached at news@collegian.com or on twitter @erinmdouglas23.

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