Will confusion define the Clark County Republican Convention?

By Megan Messerly

Friday, April 8, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The Clark County Republican Party hopes for smooth sailing Saturday at the county convention at the Rio, even as front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz continue to battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

However, confusion threatens to hamper the convention, as party chair Ed Williams confirms there are unsolved delegate issues resulting from a chaotic caucus.

The biggest issue is how to deal with a Nevada law concerning delegate election at the caucus level. Nevada has a caucus-convention process, which means the delegates elected at the precinct level during the Republican caucuses on Feb. 23 will attend the county convention this weekend. During the caucus, delegates were given certificate forms, serially numbered and with carbon copies, to serve as proof they were elected at their precinct’s meeting. A Nevada statute requires that “the result of the election must be certified to the county convention of the party by the chair and the secretary of the meeting upon the forms.”

Precinct chairs were required to sign or initial the form to certify it, but some did not. Also, caucus rules did not require the appointment of precinct secretaries, which means none of the forms have a precinct secretary’s signature or initial, Williams said.

One potential outcome: “We didn’t meet that requirement, and there are no delegates,” Williams said.

“But that’s an untenable approach that violates the intent of us actually electing delegates,” Williams said. “Frankly, at this point, someone would probably have to sue to accomplish that. I don’t know that anyone wants to go down that road.”

The county party is waiting for guidance from the state party on what to do about the precinct secretary issue.

Another issue that has surfaced concerns the delegate nomination process, which allowed people to nominate themselves as delegates before the caucus. State law does not specify that delegates must be present at the election to be selected. That means there may be a number of people who believe the early delegate nomination process qualified them as actual delegates, although they did not attend the delegate election at their precinct and never filled out the required certification form.

Williams acknowledged that, even if a delegate had been elected in absentia, the delegate would have needed to be present at some point during the caucus to fill out the certification form.

The Trump campaign maintains that the people who completed the delegate nomination process but did not attend the caucus or receive certification forms should be counted as delegates, according to a person familiar with the proceedings. Trump’s Nevada campaign officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“The form is the proof,” Williams said. “So without it, it would be up to the body of the convention whether they would be seated as delegates.”

The issues could extend even further, to people who were elected in-person on caucus night but never turned in their certification form, forgot to retain their copy of the form or any other number of scenarios that could throw the would-be delegates' status into question.

In those cases, the party’s credentials committee will hear the cases, gather information and possibly present a recommendation to the delegates, Williams said. The delegates ultimately determine what to do in those cases, not the county party, Williams said.

“It’s a presidential election year, so we’ll see the standard maneuvering from all concerned to make sure everyone is well represented,” Williams said.

Meanwhile, news broke Thursday of an ethics complaint against Williams that suggested he could unfairly receive about $400 in Caesars rewards credits for booking the convention at the Rio. Williams declined to comment, saying ethics complaints are confidential, but added that he does not have a rewards account with Caesars.

Of the more than 3,200 delegates elected on caucus day, party officials expect 2,200 to 2,500. Those delegates are charged with selecting up to 2,005 delegates to the state convention May 14 in Reno. Generally speaking, any delegate who attends the county convention and wants to attend the state convention can.

“Historically, we’ve never really hit that (number),” Williams said. “It’s hard to find that many people.”

The delegates who attend the state convention will, in turn, select 30 delegates to represent Nevada at the Republican National Convention in July in Cleveland. Unlike on the Democratic side, the number of Nevada delegates sent to represent each candidate at the national convention isn’t in play.

Nevada’s Republican delegates are allocated proportionally based on the outcome of the presidential preference poll taken during the Republican caucuses. According to those results, 14 delegates would vote for Trump, seven for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, six for Cruz, two for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and one for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

However, because of Nevada rules, it’s unclear what will happen with a number of the delegates since Rubio and Carson are out of the race. The candidates can choose to keep the delegates, who will remain bound through the first vote at the national convention; the candidates can be released to vote for whichever candidate they choose; or they can be proportionally reallocated to the remaining candidates at the state convention.

The Nevada Republican secretary will contact each campaign 30 days before the state convention to determine what each chooses to do with its delegates.

The biggest question is what will happen at the national convention if Trump fails to reach the 1,237 threshold needed to win the nomination with the first vote. If that happens, all of the delegates who were bound to a candidate become free to vote for whomever they like. In that case, the chain of delegate selection — from the county to national levels — becomes critically important.

All Trump or Cruz needs to win is 50 percent of the delegates plus one.

Doors to the convention are scheduled to open at 7 a.m., and official business is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Rep. Joe Heck, who is running to replace Sen. Harry Reid, and Rep. Cresent Hardy, who is running for re-election, are expected to attend. There will be candidate speeches and an election for the county party board. Convention-goers also will have a chance to suggest amendments to a preliminary party platform put forward by the county party.

“I think it’s going to be a fairly smooth process,” Williams said. “There are a lot of people involved this year who haven’t been deeply involved in politics before, so we want to make sure everyone understands the process.”

Delegates were asked to complete application forms and pay the convention fee, $40 to $45, by March 30. However, Williams said delegates also will be accepted at the door.

Guests can attend the convention as well. Tickets cost $50 at the door.