By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
After a nearly four hour meeting, the RIGOP Credentials Committee has decided not to contest the vote that earned Mark Smiley the title of chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party.
According to a press release from the RIGOP, after hearing testimony from Smiley’s opponent Dr. Daniel Harrop and others, the Credential Committee went into Executive Session to deliberate the matter. They then voted of 8-2 in favor of the following resolution:
“We find that the event of March 21, 2013 was a Meeting, not a Convention, of the State Central Committee and that all voters who cast ballots were duly qualified to do so.”
The initial vote, held a week ago, was initially ruled “invalid” by outgoing RIGOP chair Mark Zaccaria. The ruling came after 187 ballots were cast but only 186 voters were registered. The vote was also extremely close, coming in at 94-93.
But on Sunday, Zaccaria announced that an investigation into the vote had revealed a clerical error, and there were in fact 187 people registered to cast ballots. As a result, Zaccaria overturned the “invalid” ruling and declared Mark Smiley the winner. Soon after, Harrop declared he would contest the results, which he did unsuccessfully Wednesday evening.
The release from RIGOP said if no “additional process” takes place between now and the upcoming continuation of last week’s meeting on April 2, Zaccaria will officially declare the results of the initial vote valid.
