1. Here is the complaint:

   http://www.freedomwatchusa.org/pdf/160421-2016.04.21%20-%20Voeltz%20-%20Complaint%20.pdf

   Klayman is contending that the state law (Fla State Stat 103.101(1), that “any party rule directing the vote of delegates at a national nominating convention shall reasonably reflect the results of the presidential preference primary, if one is held”, means that Florida delegates must vote in perpetuity for Donald John Trump.

   Florida permits major parties to either hold a direct nominating primary, or a presidential preference primary. Its only regulation of the results of the primary, is that if party rules do direct the vote of delegates at the national nominating convention, that they should “reasonably reflect” the primary vote.

   The Republican Party of Florida (RPF) is not even required to have such a rule, but only that if it does, it must be based on the primary vote.

   I would think that a stronger case could be made that Florida’s Winner Take All rule is not a reasonable reflection of the primary vote.

   The Secretary of State is being sued because he conducted the primary, and also because he “approved” the RPF rules. This part will get tossed. The SOS did not make any representation to Florida voters how the results of the primary would be used by the RPF (Klayman is claiming fraudulent misrepresentation).

   RNC rules require that any state party that has a presidential preference primary, or conducts a preference poll at a convention or caucus, base its allocation of delegates on the primary or poll, and that those delegates vote for the candidate on the first ballot. This rule does not apply where delegate candidates are directly elected (as in Pennsylvania). As a private organization this is within its rights. There could be no understanding that the RNC must or does require voting for a candidate in perpetuity. This gets tossed.

   The RPF rules bind delegates for three ballots. This is in compliance with the RNC rules, though in excess of its minimum requirement.

   The lawsuit claims that the defendants, each and every one of them, (the SOS, the RPF, the RPF chair Blaise Ingoglia, the RNC, and RNC chair Reince Priebus), “fraudulently failed to disclose to
   Plaintiff, and the public at large, that the ninety-nine (99) delegates awarded to Trump become
   unbound after the first round of voting at the Republican National Convention and are according
   to Defendants, from that point, free to disregard the popular vote and cast their vote in support of
   any candidate they desire”

2. Do the robot party hacks give a damn that THEY have created a Civil WAR II state of affairs —

   due to the EVIL rotted minority rule machinations in nominating robot party HACK candidates for Prez ???

   Abolish the Electoral College and ALL of the related EVIL rot.

   Uniform definition of Elector-Voter in ALL of the USA.
   P.R. and NONPARTISAN App.V.

3. I read the complaint somewhat differently. I think Klayman is saying that the Florida delegates are supposed to be bound for three ballots under the Florida Republican Party rules, but the defendants are actually going to unbind the Florida delegates after only one ballot instead.

4. I think you are right – I was confused since there is no evidence that the RNC or RPF are changing their rules, or that the SOS “approved” or “ratified” the rules.

5. * The state party’s rule 10B binds delegates for three rounds (unless convention rules say they’re bound for longer). And the rules are filed with SOS Detzner, who has the statutory duty of overseeing the primary — though I don’t see statutory language on him *approving* the rules, beyond the requirement that “The Department of State shall review the procedures and shall notify the state executive committee of each political party of any ballot limitations.” I suppose there could be case law on this point. BTW, the rules are here (Rule 10 starts on page 8):

   http://ccflgop.com/charlottegop/documents/PartyRulesofProcedure.pdf

   And the section of Florida State Statutes most cited in the complaint, 103.101, is here:

   http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0103/Sections/0103.101.html

   * But the GOP defendants, after talking up the three-round rule until Trump won the Florida primary, are now saying that delegates are bound only for one round and can vote for anybody they want after that. (And Detzner presumably hasn’t been holding them to the written and submitted rules which are now public record, thereby helping the conspiracy to defraud and disenfranchise Florida Republican primary voters.)

   * Klayman claims fraud and misrepresentation — in the *rules* (and the assurances before the primary that they would be followed). Now, if he were only asking the court to hold the delegation to the published rules, he’d be focusing on the only-bound-for-one-round *post*-primary statements and actions. But if the rules are a fraud, then he can ask the court to bind the delegates for even longer than the three rounds stated in the rules — which is what he’s doing: he’s asking that they be ordered to keep voting for Trump for as many rounds as the convention goes. (Though I suppose he might be satisfied with a settlement or an order lasting at least three rounds.)

6. Those are the 2008 rules.

   If you start here,

   http://dos.myflorida.com/elections/candidates-committees/political-parties/

   You can select the Republican Party. The latest party rules are September 2015. They are date-stamped by the SOS, so perhaps that is the ratification or approval that Klayman is claiming.

   When Dennis Kucinich was kept off the 2008 primary ballot in Texas because of his refusal to sign a loyalty oath, he sued the SOS and the Democratic Party. The SOS was dismissed because all they did was accept the Democratic Party Rules and stick them in a filing cabinet. The court found that the TDP should have filed for VRA Section 5 preclearance.

   “But the GOP defendants, after talking up the three-round rule until Trump won the Florida primary, are now saying that delegates are bound only for one round and can vote for anybody they want after that.”

   Who is making this assertion, Larry Klayman or John Anthony La Pietra? The “evidence” in Larry Klayman’s complaint is a newspaper article (see footnote 3, page 6) that claims that Cruz was seeking delegates who would become unbound after a certain number of rounds. It is quite clear that the number of rounds varies from state to state. It is noted that 80% will be unbound by the third round.

   A spokesman for the RPF says that Florida delegates will be bound for three rounds.

   The Florida delegate selection rules, which are separate from the binding rules, are quite interesting. Each candidate who appeared on the primary ballot, may submit a list of proposed delegates to the party. Those lists will be forwarded to those making the selection. It is quite clear that those choosing the delegates might consider which candidate the delegate supports, in case that there are additional ballots.

7. Sorry . . . I was aiming to analyze what the complaint said to try to understand it, not to make any assertions of my own about the substance. The farthest I went toward expressing myself was the guessing in the last paragraph about why Klayman argued the way he did.

   I appreciate your link to the Florida Department of State site, but when I select the Republican Party link there I don’t get to any party rules, from 2015 or otherwise. Can you provide a direct link, so we can see the difference in what the two sets of rules say?

   What I found by outside searching is a 2011 set of rules, true — which surprised me, too — but it’s from the Website of the Charlotte County, Florida GOP (hence the URL, I suppose) and that sounds at least reasonable. Still, if 2015 or 2016 rules are available they’d be better.

8. I left out a step:

   http://dos.myflorida.com/elections/candidates-committees/political-parties/

   Select a party, and at the bottom of the page you should see two buttons. Click on “Campaign Documents”. This will give you a list of documents, the last filing of the rules was 9/29/2015.

   I noticed the Charlotte County GOP web site was out of date because it didn’t have the current Winner Take All (WTA) rules.

   I think the interesting part about the current RPF rules is that each candidate who was on the ballot was invited to propose a list of delegates. That is, the party specifically sought suggestions for delegates who would be bound on the first three ballots, but would be otherwise free to vote their consciences. I bet the Cruz campaign proposed delegates. It would be interesting if any other campaigns did.

   Klayman’s assertions do not appear to have any basis in fact.

9. Thanks for that second step. (I should have checked both of those buttons more thoroughly.)

   It is of course up to Klayman to back up his assertions.

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