UPDATE: Judge, for now, restores John Yob's eligibility in GOP's Virgin Islands caucus



A Michigan political consultant who advised Rand Paul on his defunct presidential campaign is on the ballot today in the U.S. Virgin Islands despite allegedly lying about his residency in order to become a registered voter there.

John Yob, along with his wife and two others, have had their voter registrations nixed by election officials in the U.S. territory east of Puerto Rico.

Yet, the four of them remain on the GOP ballot for a Thursday, March 10, caucus that will elect delegates to attend this summer's Republican National Convention, where they could be a big factor in who becomes the party's nominee to the White House.

John Yob

"I do have mixed feelings (about Yob being on the ballot)," said John Canegata, state chairman for the Virgin Islands Republican Party. "If it's a power struggle, and it could be that, I would totally object to that.

"It's safe to say it's the first time it's ever happened (that four people have moved here and immediately tried to become convention delegates). What are these guys really trying to do?"

Yob in early January tried to register to vote on St. John, one of the territory's three main islands, and was told he was ineligible because he had not been a resident for at least 90 days, according to an elections supervisor.

"He then took the information gained and travelled to the St. Thomas Elections Office and provided a falsified date within the parameters to meet the requirement," states a March 4 letter to Canegata from U.S. Virgin Islands elections supervisor Carolyn Fawkes.

Yob along with his wife, Erica Yob, and fellow political consultant Ethan and Lindsey Eilon are ineligible to register to vote until March 27, the elections supervisor ruled. That's problematic because party rules require that convention delegates be registered Republican voters.

Canegata said the party has a committee to handle disputes like this, and "this letter from the elections system has a lot of weight."

At the same time, Yob and the other three have filed suit claiming that they are being improperly denied voter registration by a Republican National Committee member whose husband also is on the ballot to become a convention delegate.

"She abused her power," Yob said Wednesday about having his voter registration revoked. "There is no 90-day rule from the point that you move to the Virgin Islands. It's actually 90 days from the primary election (in August) going back.

"Even if the rule was (90 days from when you move to the islands) I still would count as a registered voter because the definition of resident in the Virgin Islands is based on action and intent. My residency was established when I came to the Virgin Islands in August 2015 (and made an offer on a house). I went to St. Thomas. I told them I moved to St. John in 2015, which was exactly the truth."

There are 42 candidates on the caucus ballot in the Virgin Islands, with six spots up for election Thursday. Party members will elect the six delegates who will join three party officials - including Lillana Belardo de O'Neal, the national committeewoman named in Yob's suit - at July's GOP convention in Cleveland.

Though some people on the ballot are pledged to particular presidential candidates, Yob is not committed to any candidate - meaning that if he becomes a delegate to the convention he could cast a vote for anybody to become president. Ditto for Erica Yob and the Eilons. If all are elected, they would make up four of the territory's nine delegates.

The seemingly insignificant delegation from the Virgin Islands could take on added significance if GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is unable to win enough delegates in primary elections this spring to claim the party's nomination to the White House. If Republicans have a contested convention, uncommitted delegates from the Virgin Islands and elsewhere could play a big role in determining which presidential candidate ultimately wins the nomination.

"The free-agent delegations will have a lot of authority on the convention floor," said Yob, who is promoting a book he wrote about how to manipulate a contested convention. "There is momentum in the Virgin Islands to elect an uncommitted slate so they have more relevance."

Yob said he would be running for convention delegate even if the GOP nominee already were decided. And he hasn't "taken sides between the Trump and the anti-Trump forces," he said.

"I don't share the opinion that Trump would necessarily be bad for the party (because he is bringing a lot of Democrats to the Republican side)," Yob said.

RELATED:

• John Yob, aide to Rand Paul, claims Marco Rubio strategist punched him 'in the face' on Mackinac

• Wife of GOP operative John Yob takes diversionary plea on domestic violence charge

Yob in the past has worked for Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Rick Santorum in 2008 and 2012, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and U.S. Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land.

Last fall, Yob allegedly got punched in the face by a Marco Rubio staffer at a Republican conference on Mackinac Island. Earlier in 2015, Erica Yob pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence against Yob, her husband, after police arrested her and said she assaulted him twice in 24 days.

Yob said he plans to be a permanent resident of the Virgin Islands and also keep residences in Washington, D.C. and in Michigan.

Matt Vande Bunte writes about government and other issues on MLive. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.