CLEVELAND – Chaos erupted in Cleveland on Monday afternoon as some Republican delegates made a last-ditch effort to reject Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee.
At a time when party leaders continuously called for unification, the scene at the Republican National Convention was anything but on Monday. Delegates loudly argued over a vote accepting convention rules that state delegates must vote for the candidate they are committed to on the first ballot.
Eventually the rules were accepted, but not without a fight.
The air was tense as Rules Committee Chair Enid Mickelsen took the podium, reflecting an anticipated battle after Trump critics objected to the proposed rules in last week’s proceedings. Trump critics favored a “vote of conscience,” freeing the delegates from their obligation to vote for the candidate who won their state during the primary.
After Mickelsen called for a vote to accept the official rules, the atmosphere erupted in Quicken Loans Arena. Chants of “Stop Trump” and “Roll Call Vote” reverberated across the floor, clashing with chants of “U-S-A” and “We Want Trump.”
Ohio representatives were among the delegations vocally calling for a roll-call vote. Delegate Larry Obhof, president pro-tempore of the Ohio Senate, was among them. Obhof represents the 22nd District in Ohio, which encompasses Richland County.
“A number of people including the delegates from Ohio were requesting a roll-call vote hoping that we’d all go on the record and see where the numbers landed,” Obhof said.
Obhof said it was difficult to determine the true count of votes using simply a voice vote. Indeed, when Rep. Steve Womack, chair of voting procedures, asked for a voice vote to accept the rules, the yelling of “yes” and “no” was difficult to discern.
“From where I was standing in the session, it sounded like there were substantial numbers of ‘no’ votes,” Obhof said. “From my vantage point, I think it would have been a good thing to allow that to happen so we know for sure whether there were more yes or no votes.”
According to Womack, delegates opposing Trump submitted to the convention secretary signatures from a majority of delegates from nine different states: Colorado, Washington state, Utah, Minnesota, Wyoming, Maine, Iowa, Virginia and Washington D.C.
A majority of seven states would have forced a roll-call vote. However, Womack said, three states came to the secretary after the signatures from the nine states were received and withdrew their support. This dropped the number of states to six; it is unknown which three states dropped out.
Ohio delegate and Ohio Senate President Keith Faber of the 12th district also supported a roll-call vote, though he did not believe there would have been enough to change the rules.
“I think there would have been enough votes to support the rules package,” Faber said. “In the voice vote you clearly had more yeses than you had no’s, but I would have given a roll-call vote because that would have helped dispel any concerns that somebody was getting a bum’s rush.”
For Obhof, Ohio’s support of a roll-call vote was a demonstration of support for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who defeated Trump in the state’s primary election. Kasich earned all 66 of Ohio’s delegates in the primary election.
“I’m here to support the governor, that’s what the people of Ohio voted to have us do,” Obhof said. “I think he’s done a great job and I think the two people running for president in the fall can both learn from looking at Ohio.”
After the eventual acceptance of the rules, convention business returned to normal. However, Faber noted, normalcy is not always preferred.
“I would have preferred to have a vote on the rules,” he said. “It would’ve taken more time, and it would’ve been inconvenient, but sometimes inconvenience is a good thing for the democratic process.”
