Voters Complain about Confusion at Boone County Caucus

BOONE COUNTY - Republicans piled into the Kemper Arena to join in the Missouri caucuses Saturday. Voters started lining up before 9:00 a.m., and several voters got turned away if they arrived after 10:00 a.m. Some voters complained that the cut off time was not publicized.

"There's a lot of people who are upset because we came here to participate in a process to help select the Republican presidential nominee for our county, and we're not going to get to participate," said Boone County voter, John Baker.

Just under 500 people participated in the caucus. The body of people voted for a new caucus chairman and accepted the Rules Committee's idea of changing the caucus rules to vote on a slate. Voting on a slate means voters won't select delegates individually, but instead vote for a group of 53 delegates all representing a certain candidate. Many voters said they didn't understand the voting process, and complained about the lack of organization at the caucus.

"I don't think many people know what's going on. I don't think the chair even really understands," said Boone County voter Frederick Berry.

Ron Paul's slate took Boone County with 238 votes. Santorum's slate managed to pull 108 votes.

The Ron Paul committee struck a deal with Romney supporters to block Santorum--giving Romney five delegates on Paul's slate. Several voters were frustrated with the deal.

"Most of the people, even the Ron Paul supporters, didn't realize that Romney would have five delegates until after they voted. I'm quite upset," said Boone County voter Chris Raymond.