About 1,500 people were turned away from pooled Benton County caucuses in Kennewick by event organizers after rooms at the Three Rivers Convention Center reached capacity this morning. Some potential caucus voters said they arrived at 9 a.m. to find the large hallways at the convention center packed to the rafters and were told no more people could enter the caucus rooms. Ray Swenson, a Richland lawyer, criticized local GOP officials for poor organization and said the results today should be invalidated. “I think it’s illegal,” Swenson shouted to a gathered crowd, many of whom were filming him with cell phone cameras. “The Republican party leadership is taking away our freedom.”
Swenson told the Herald he may file a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the caucus results. “I think it’s unconstitutional,” he said. “Our right to vote is the most fundamental right in the Constitution. … This is exactly equal to walking into a polling place and being told, ‘We’ve run out of ballots. We didn’t expect this many people. Go home.'”
Benton County Republican Party members who organized the caucuses said they estimated 2,000 people would show up at the convention center, where most of the county’s precincts caucused today. But their jaws dropped when they saw an estimated 3,000 people packed into the convention center’s hallways and spilling outside. “We where overwhelmed,” said Tony Benegas of West Richland, chairman of the Kennewick caucuses. “It’s tough because it’s all volunteers — nobody gets paid to do this.”
Full Article: POLITICS: Local GOP apologizes for turning 1,500 away from caucuses in Kennewick – Breaking News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news.