PA Northwest GOP Caucus Withholds Straw Vote Totals

The Pennsylvania Republican State Committee held its Northwest Caucus meeting last Saturday in Knox. And when the straw vote dust settled … no one knew who won.

During the state’s first four gatherings in the Central, Southwest, Northeast and Northeast Central regions, caucus members cast one vote apiece for governor, lieutenant governor and the U.S. Senate.

Alas, the Northwest caucus chose not to follow suit. The Northwest group circled their top three preferences in each race, tabulated the totals, and released the top-three vote-getters in no particular order, while omitting the remainder of the candidates.

That’s right. We have no idea who finished first, second or third.

“I’m very upset with how it went. I don’t think it should have been done like that,” Rick Rathfon, Clarion County GOP chairman and vice chair of the Northwest Caucus, told The Epoch Times. “We should be uniform in what we’re doing as a state party. I think that moving forward, every caucus, should do a straw poll exactly the same way so there’s no confusion about who won the straw poll or the way meetings are run.”

Northwest Caucus leader Sheila Sterrett said she decided to use top-three voting because the northwest caucus has 41 members and each race has so many candidates. Voting for just one could have caused each candidate to get a handful of votes, and the results would not have been meaningful, she explained.

The top candidates receiving votes are:

U.S. Senate: Kathy Barnette, Jeff Bartos, David McCormick

Governor: Charlie Gerow, Lou Barletta, Bill McSwain, Jason Richey, Dave White, and Nche Zama. There was a four-way tie for third place.

Lieutenant governor: Rick Saccone, John Brown, Jeff Coleman and Carrie Lewis Del Ross. Two candidates tied for third place.

10 Responses

  1. Zama had the most votes for Governor in the NW caucus.

    On the eve of Black History Month, not surprising to witness the suppression of a Black Republican victory that might upset the apple cart.

  2. Former Lower Merion Constable Eric Bradway is running for Governor on the Democrat Ticket

  3. Why would anyone expect that a party which doesn’t believe in Science would suddenly believe in Math?

    1. Our party believes all the Science that supports the Great Barrington Declaration as now confirmed by the Johns Hopkins study. We need the party on the left to express as much concern and effort find the origins of the virus as they do trampling the constitution and taking our liberties away

  4. So how did Kathy Barnette decide that she received the most votes if the caucus withheld the counts? Seems dishonest to mr

  5. GOP operates like the Kremlin these days. We will tell you who wins if we decide to do so. Go about your business.

Email:
  • Will tonight's U.S. Senate debate affect your decision?


    • No. I've already decided on how to cast my vote. (81%)
    • Yes. Anxious to hear from both candidates (19%)

    Total Voters: 27

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