Voting irregularities in Iowa Straw Poll

There seems to have been some controversy unfolding, so I am deciding to live blog this, and post more as new information comes in.

UPDATE (9:02 PM ET): There is a delay in the announcement of results.  According to the Free Market News Network, the delay either came as a result of voting irregularities, and/or there is currently a recount taking place.  However, we do know that Romney won.  The question is who finished second?

UPDATE (9:14 PM PET): Des Moines Register reports that there were indeed voting irregularities during the Iowa straw vote:

Voting machine difficulties delayed the announcement of the vote totals tonight at the Iowa Straw Poll.

About 1,500 ballots needed to be recounted, said Mary Tiffany, a spokeswoman for Republican Party of Iowa.

One machine caused the problem, said Chuck Laudner, the party’s executive director.

At one point, its black box contained 500 paper ballots but the machine’s memory said it had scanned in 498.

Allthe ballots fed into that machine throughout the day were hand counted,and now are being re-fed into the machine to recalculate the vote.

Good Lord!

UPDATE (9:26 PM ET): Now the AP is all over this story.  Apparently, some GOP coordinators who are in charge of counting the votes are starting to get annoyed by it.  The recounting is still taking place.  And Ron Paul's people are livid:

"That's what they've been doing this whole time, but they clearlymisjudged how long this would take," GOP spokeswoman Mary Tiffany said.

The situation may have added fuel to the fire of some Ron Paul supporters who had sought to block voting at the event because of themachines. They filed a federal lawsuit on the constitutionality of thevoting process this week, and argued that the vote-counting machines,made by Diebold Election Systems, had fundamental weaknesses.

I am continuing to follow this story.

UPDATE (9:34 PM ET): It's official.  The AP is reiterating the fact that Mitt Romney won the Iowa Straw Poll.  Again, we knew this would happen.  Now waiting for the final vote tally so we can move on and call it a day.

UPDATE (9:37 PM ET): Huckabee gets second.  Brownback gets third.  I will post a recap of all the results in about 10 minutes.

UPDATE (9:55 PM ET): Iowa straw poll recap is in, with the results and everything.  Thus ends our live blogging of this rather peculiar event.

Comments

[Jon]

Voting irregularities eh? Sounds like the conservatives can't even get out of their straw poll without muddying the waters.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

lol This is so entertaining what is happening.

[Jon]

I wonder if they will be smart enough to demand the end of electronic voting.

[Vote-Romney]

I don't think Romney rigged it. But why use machines for a very small sample poll? I think some things should be done the old fashioned way.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

I don't think Romney rigged it either. But those electronic machines aren't always reliable. And the Republicans should have listened to Ron Paul, who filed that suit in court earlier this week about the machines.

[Independent Thought]

Quite simply, Ron Paul is unique to both theatres (Republican or Democrat) in this political arena. No one is allowing him to speak and properly state his views.
Question. Why is the media so afraid of Ron Paul?
Why is the Republican Party so afraid of his advancement in this race?
The clarity and simplicity of his positions reflect an unswerving committment to the cornerstone of our American existence - the Constitution.
So, whether right or left in political persausion everyone should realize that ambiguity, flip-flopping, generalizing, or simply ignoring major issues, is the order of the day for most of these canidates.
Spinmeisters (marketing agents) have weaved false representations of their canidates to grab high numbers at the polls, irregardless of the untruths or half truths that pervade their rhetoric.
This is not true with Ron Paul. His values today are what they were 10 years ago, 20 years ago.
Why is the media so afraid of reporting on Ron Paul correctly for what his platform represents?

[Chief Editor: Todd]

"Independent Thought" -- to answer your question, the media is afraid to report about Ron Paul because he defies conventional wisdom. It's the same reason on the Democratic side why the media favors Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. Both Obama and Paul stick to their principles, and always have.