Republican caucusgoers in Iowa tossed their ballots for their choice of GOP presidential nominee into supermarket brown paper bags Tuesday night in chaotic scenes captured on video. In one, caucusgoers walk up and toss their ballots into a HyVee Supermarket bag, in another the brown bag is passed around. In both videos the word “ballots” is written in magic marker at the top of the bag. Critics are calling out the possibility of fraud and claiming hypocrisy by the party that says it is focused on election integrity.
“Voters jotted their candidate on sheet of paper before they were all collected in a brown grocery bag,” notes WFAA senior reporter Jason Whitely in this video that has received over half-a-million views.
“Weird how this crowd – that is notoriously suspicious of improper voting procedures – is cool with this method and know one seems to be questioning the outcome,” wrote Brian Hastert, who hosts the Local Selection podcast about state and municipal elections and governance.
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Some critics online mocked the process, with one asking, “So how did Republicans maintain election security here, did they double bag it?”
WISN political director Matt Smith posted this video, which now has 4.7 million views, showing Iowa caucusgoers walking up to a man in a red vest, also with a HyVee Supermarket brown paper bag, and tossing in their ballots.
“This is how the greatest country on earth elects the most powerful person in the world? High school student government elections are more sophisticated than this,” wrote one critic online. Another called it, “the old ‘write a name on a piece of paper and put it in a grocery bag’ method that wouldn’t fly in a 2nd grade vote for lunch line monitor.”
On its website the Republican Party of Iowa informs caucusgoers, “If you are not a registered voter or a registered Republican, that’s okay! Just be prepared to register in-person at your caucus location on caucus night!”
“Remember to bring a valid form of ID with you on Caucus night,” they add.
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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