March 01, 2011 01:20 AM UTC

Next GOP chair needs more than 50% in Central Committee vote

•  
• by: Jason Salzman

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Now that Matt Arnold of Clear the Bench fame has entered the GOP race for GOP state party chair, media outlets should have reviewed how the position will be filled.

In 2009, the Colorado Republican Central Committee, which selects the new Dick Wadhams in a vote March 26, had about 400 delegates. This time, there will be 300 delegates.

Here’s the breakdown of who will be casting votes, as recently updated by Craig Steiner of the “Common Sense American Conservatism” website.

• 90 GOP elected officials (state/national party officials plus CO elected Republicans)
• 192 Republican Country Party representatives (64 counties; chair, vice-chair, and Secretary for each county)
• 18 bonus delegates (based on votes cast for Maes, and updated from the link above in an email to me. In the email, Steiner writes that these delegates come from: Arapahoe: 2; Douglas: 2; El Paso: 8; Jefferson: 4; Larimer: 2)

If you’ve been tracking this race, you know that Harvey seems to be the favorite, in terms of endorsements.

But if you’re like me, you’re thinking, could Matt Arnold and Sen. Ted Harvey possibly, theoretically, split the grassroots GOP vote and throw the election to one of the more moderate candidates, Ryan Call of the Denver GOP, or Leondray Gholston of the State Party.

I asked Steiner what happens if a state chair candidate does not get a majority of Central Committee votes. He answered via email:

The bylaws state: “If more than two persons are nominated for an office, and after three ballots no nominee has received the required majority vote, then, unless one or more nominees have withdrawn during or following this balloting, the nominee receiving the least votes on the last of the three ballots shall be ineligible on all subsequent ballots. The nominee receiving the least votes on each ballot thereafter shall also be ineligible on subsequent ballots, unless one or more other nominees withdraw following such ballot. Balloting shall continue in this manner until a majority vote is cast for one nominee.”

“So it’s not a single preliminary vote with a run-off for the two top candidates.  Rather, we start dropping the candidate who receives the fewest votes until a remaining candidate receives more than 50%.”

As a Feb. 24 candidate forum shows, it’s not easy to figure out what GOP grassroots activists, who control the majority of votes on the Central Committee, want. Do hey agree with a guy like Arnold, who, when asked what a RINO is, said:

“There are RINOs. They are not just endangered species.”

Arnold explained at the forum: “Our brand is important. And it’s not just the momentary victory of putting someone in office with an R behind their name.  It’s putting someone in office who will advance our principles and achieve policy success.  So yeah you might get a short-term victory by having guys with an R behind their names sitting in some elected office, but that ultimately undermines our potential for electoral and policy victory down the road if people don’t understand when they pop open that can of Coke, it can be Classic, Diet, different varieties, but you want Coke to be Coke.  Our brand is important.”