| Shared via Awake Oklahoma (by Karen Hardin) |
| On Jan 30, 2025, members of Tulsa County GOP Precinct #151 received a disturbing email from Tulsa County Chair, Ronda Vuillemont-Smith announcing a complaint had been filed regarding their precinct meeting. |
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| What was missing in Smith’s email above were any details about the actual complaint. Six people attended the meeting representing precinct #151. Five of them Grassroots Trump supporters who were attending their Precinct Meetings for the first time. This included Clark & Jenell Wehrli, their two sons, Thomas (Brent) and Teece along with Deb Enkers. Also in attendance was Leah Hull who had been involved with the Tulsa County GOP for some time. Months before, while helping with Brent Van Norman’s campaign, Leah and Jenell met. During that time, realizing they were in the same precinct, they discussed the 2025 precinct elections. “Leah told me she did not want to run for Chair,” Jenell said. “We discussed that I would run for Chair and she wanted to run as Vice Chair.” Fast forward to the precinct meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 28. When the sign-in sheet was passed around, Clark, Jenell, and their two sons all signed in with their voter ID #. They then passed the sheet to Leah. “It was weird,” Clark commented. “She picked up the sheet and moved away from us to fill it out. When she brought it back to our final precinct member, she had completely blacked out Jenell’s voter ID number. Since there was no room to write it in again, Jenell had to sign in a second time underneath Leah to add her voter ID back in.” |
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| According to reports by delegates in attendance, after they attempted to complete the confusing paperwork, the informal elections were held as instructed. In precinct 151, Jenell Wehrli was voted in as Chair. “Leah seemed really friendly at first, but things changed after I nominated Clark for Vice-Chair and then he won,” Jenell continued. “Leah ran for Vice Chair as well, but when she didn’t win, she seemed angry. I asked her at one point during the elections, who she planned to vote for, not realizing she had already put out a statement for candidate Charity Marcus. She seemed to get really mad over the question and said we couldn’t ask her that.” Other attendees also reported that Leah got angry and got up from the table. The next thing the group knew, a woman and two men, evidently there on behalf of the Tulsa County GOP leadership, had come over to their group and began to reprimand them for talking and discussing who people were voting for. Then one of the men asked why there were seven names down on the precinct sign-in sheet, but only six people present. “I had to explain how my voter ID had been blotted out, and how I had to sign in again,” Jenell explained. Clark then piped in regarding another strange incident that took place.“When the 2 men came over, I had suggested we vote for a closed delegation. But they wouldn’t accept that. They said it was almost never done and they really didn’t give our group that option. It seemed like the outcome was very controlled by them as they looked over our sheet and told us how to vote,” Clark finished. The meeting concluded, but two days later, members of precinct #151 received the email above from Ronda Smith asking them for a statement over a “formal complaint.” According to Clark Wehrli, “We were instructed to return a statement to Ronda by the next day, but we were never told what the actual complaint was. We had no idea what we were responding to. It appeared Leah was mad because she lost the election and perhaps was trying to get us removed? That’s what it felt like. But the vote was clear. She didn’t win.” Not only were the six precinct members present asked to issue a statement about the precinct meeting, but according to the email, the facilitator was also asked to issue a statement, which would be given to the Executive Committee** to review. Was that referring to the main Facilitator who Leah complained to? Or the two men who came to the table to reprimand the group? None of them were at the table during the initial discussions or election. So what statement could they make other than to confirm the report that Leah made? Why is this being handled differently than according to the OK GOP rules? OK GOP Rule 5b on Precinct Committees says: Authority and Duties: The Precinct Committee is the supreme Republican Party authority of each precinct, subject to these rules, and the direction and control of official precinct meetings. The Precinct Committee of each precinct is charged with the duty of promoting the welfare and directing the affairs of the Republican Party in its precinct.The Precinct Chairman shall be the executive officer of the precinct delegates to anycounty convention. The Precinct Chairman is not disqualified to be elected or appointedas a delegate pursuant to these rules. Only the Precinct Committee has the authority to remove any duly elected qualified delegate to the county convention In review of the incident and based on the rules above, it leaves us with more questions than answers. Why is the Executive Committee convening over this? They hold no power or jurisdiction over the precinct delegates. Why was the actual complaint not shared with the precinct members? Why would there be any action taken against these new precinct members who were simply trying to get more involved in the Republican Party? Is it because they are now in leadership? It would be an illegal action to invalidate the election or remove any delegates according to the OK GOP rules. What is the purpose behind all of this? “I’m really unclear as to what this is all about. I was appointed as secretary to our precinct that evening,” Deb Enkers stated when asked about the meeting. “All of it was new to me. Leah seemed mad and then with the facilitators, it all seemed pretty hostile and confusing as to why they had an issue with us.” It certainly looks like a case of sour grapes for Miss Hull, and what looks to be a possible attempt to overturn an election or remove delegates by the Tulsa County GOP leadership prior the Tulsa County Convention on March 1. Note: If you attended your precinct meetings or couldn’t but turned in the Absentee Ballot form by the Jan 28 3 p.m. deadline, be sure to register for the March 1 Tulsa County Convention. If you turned in your Absentee Ballot form on time and are told you don’t qualify to attend, (which we have received reports is happening) please click here to notify us. We should all want and demand fair and equitable elections. **The Tulsa County Executive Committee is made up of roughly twenty people who were appointed–not elected–by the Tulsa GOP Chair and Vice Chair. |
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Shared via OKGrassroots.com
