Ron Paul Gets More than Double of Romney's Votes in Washington County

Texas Congressman Ron Paul got more than double the number of votes polled for Mitt Romney in the rescheduled Republican caucus held on Saturday in Eastern Maine. Still on a statewise count, Paul couldn't defeat Romney in Maine, where a recounting was done to include poll results from counties which went unaccounted earlier.

In Washington County's caucus, Paul garnered 163 votes to Romney's 80 and in the county of Hancock, Paul received 41 votes to Romney's 16. Paul also got four more votes to Romney's two in Clinton, which also caucused Saturday morning and in East Brook, 19 votes to Romney's seven.

According to the earlier declaration, Romney won the state with 2,190 votes (39 percent) compared to 1,996(36 percent), for Paul. The GOP said Friday that a recount showed that Romney won with a 239-vote margin out of the 5,814 votes cast.

Now if East Maine caucus results are added to the total county, Paul's deficit with Romney is reduced to 152 votes in a state wide count. Though it does not change the winner, the narrow win will be a setback to Romney, who is struggling to retain his frontrunner status.

However, the caucus is non-binding and election results will not decide the delegate allotment.

Last Saturday, Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster had declared Romney the winner of Maine state. This result does not include the voter tally from Washington County and several other counties where caucuses were held or are yet to be held.

Unlike other states, Maine GOP caucus allows its counties to hold their caucus between January to March, though the GOP has told the counties that they will have to conduct their caucuses during Feb 4 to Feb 11 to include them in the presidential poll.

However, Washington County, which had scheduled their caucus in the prescribed period, was forced to reschedule it to Saturday due to an unexpected snowstorm.

The GOP voters from Washington County wanted their results to be included in the tally. The results of many other counties also were not added to the presidential tally due to some technical error. It led to these counties asking for a recount. The decision on Washington County's request for inclusion in the election results will be decided on March 10, in a regular GOP meeting.