Dozens of Ron Paul backers showed up at a state Republican Party meeting last night to protest what they say is a manipulation of power aimed at decreasing their influence at the party’s national convention.

Dozens of Ron Paul backers showed up at a state Republican Party meeting last night to protest what they say is a manipulation of power aimed at decreasing their influence at the party’s national convention.

A 14-member GOP committee charged with allocating delegates to the convention held a closed meeting at the Holiday Inn to discuss whether three delegates and three alternates selected at the Fifth Congressional District caucus should be invalidated.

None of the Romney-backed delegates won any of the six seats for the district, which as a result of redistricting will include Framingham, Natick, Sudbury and Southborough in 2013. It presently is anchored by Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill.

One of the unsuccessful members of the Romney slate challenged the results.

The complaint filed with the Massachusetts Republican Party alleges that those who attended the April 28 caucus at Nevins Hall in Framingham were not asked to sign a form under the pains of perjury certifying they were registered Republicans. As a result, the complaint contends, the results should be invalidated and new delegates chosen at the direction of the committee which selects delegates.

Brad Wyatt, a Paul backer and organizer for the Paul-allied Ronald Reagan Unity Liberty slate, said the complaint seeks to capitalize on a technical glitch that none of the delegates elected had anything to do with.

Those at the caucus still had to check in with workers using Republican voting lists at the front door, he said, so it is unlikely that the results — which he said were overwhelming for Unity candidates — could have been swayed by phony voters.

Stephen Zykofsky, chairman of the state committee that wrote the rules surrounding the 2012 caucus, said last night that the GOP shouldn’t invalidate the results.

According to the rules, the Romney camp needed to challenge any procedural part of the caucus while it was taking place, Zykofsky said.

“Nothing happened until after the results came out and they weren’t what people expected,” he said. “This would be a great injustice if overturned.”

Except to testify for a brief period, Zykofsky was barred from the meeting, something he said has never happened in his 26 years as a state committeeman.

Following the nearly two-hour meeting last night, Ed McGrath, the chairman of the delegate allocation committee, said that the issue had not been resolved and that he would not comment until a decision was made.

McGrath and other members faced showers of “Count the votes” chants from about 50 protesters outside the meeting, most of whom were there to decry the state GOP party’s recent decision to throw out provisional ballots collected at the caucuses statewide.

Provisional ballots are filed by voters whose registration status could not be verified on the date of the caucus vote. Usually those are people who just recently registered as party members.

The GOP printed out provisional ballots for the caucuses statewide, saying that the voters’ qualifications would be checked and, if valid, their votes counted if they could sway the outcome.

However, the state party decided to toss the provisional ballots without providing a written explanation, Wyatt said, something that has angered many party members who believe the GOP is trying to protect pro-Romney delegates.

“This is worse than the Soviet Union,” said West Bridgewater resident Donna Petronelli, one of nine people who cast provisional ballots in the Eighth Congressional District. “They want to keep the control, and they want to keep other people out.”

A lot of anger was directed toward Vincent DeVito, the General Council for the state GOP who won his delegation by just six votes.

“It’s a clear conflict of interest,” said Wyatt, who believes that the 14 provisional ballot votes in the 4th Congressional District would likely go against DeVito.

“He should recuse himself (as counsel), and I think it’s an embarrassment for the state GOP that he hasn’t.”

Wyatt, himself a delegate, said the GOP seems worried that Paul backers will cause a ruckus at the national convention. While they would like to hear Paul speak and would like his ideas to be reflected in the platform, Wyatt pointed out that, under state law, Paul backers need to vote for Romney since he won the state primary.

“It’s hilarious that they would fight these hard for these (Romney) delegates,” he said. “It’s not going to change the outcome.”

(Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or bpetrishen@wickedlocal.com. For news throughout the day, follow him at twitter.com/Brad_Petrishen.)