Ron Paul Supporters Disrupt RNC, Fight For Ron Paul Delegates to Be Seated at Convention

Impact

The Republican National Convention saw some uneasy disruption from within its own ranks on Tuesday, as Ron Paul supporters vocally protested the removing of Ron Paul delegates.

Ron Paul supporters burst out into chants and protests at the Republican convention on Tuesday afternoon, shouting "point of order!" in unison to protest the RNC's decision not to seat Paul delegates from Maine. "A point of order is a matter raised during consideration of a motion concerning the rules of parliamentary procedure," as stated on Wikipedia.

They also battled rules changes for the 2016 primaries that they warn will reduce the grassroot's impact. Mitt Romney supporters tried to drown them out with chants of "USA!"

Here’s how it played out:

Chants of "let them sit" erupted on the convention floor supporting Maine's Ron Paul delegates stripped of their seats. Ron Paul-leaning delegates from Oklahoma and Oregon were allowed to sit.

Some 10 minutes later, the rules motion was brought up for a voice vote … which saw significant “nay” votes from Ron Paul supporters … but which was approved anyways.

Ron Paul supporters then started chanting "point of order" opposing rule changes that they say takes away the power of the grassroots in the party. Applause then erupted after Paul supporters lost the voice vote to chants of “USA.”

A few Maine Paulites were occupying the floor peacefully. Security was considering removing them. 

As Mitt Romney faces a roll call vote to become the GOP nominee (which he is likely to win), any disruptions in the voting process are disturbing, especially for party unity.

Paul delegates were keen to disrupt the roll call process and instead nominate their candidate to president.

A storm may be brewing, and I don’t mean Isaac. 

"In a letter released late Monday, Indiana Republican National Committeeman Jim Bopp and other RNC members instead proposed a new penalty for delegates who cast a vote for a candidate other than the one they are bound to vote for. The rule was adopted by the committee Tuesday," reports The Washington Post.

“The resolution that we have reached is straightforward,” according to Bopp and other top RNC officials, which includes Henry Barbour, Ron Kaufman and John Ryder. “It simply prevents a bound delegate from nominating or casting a vote for a different presidential candidate than the one to whom the delegate was legally bound by state law or state party rule.”

This rule, in effect, destroys Ron Paul's ability to challenge Romney for the GOP nomination, which he is doing.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to properly cite language that was originally used without attribution to Wikipedia and The Washington Post. We apologize to our readers for this violation of our basic editorial standards. Mic has put in place new mechanisms, including plagiarism detection software, to ensure that this does not happen in the future.