Cleveland —Republicans looking to unseat Donald Trump as their party’s presidential nominee appear to have the signatures they need to force a full vote on the national convention rules, a move intended to provide a platform for anti-Trump voices and to embarrass the billionaire.
To force that vote, the faction would need signatures from the majority of delegates from 7 states or territories. According to documents provided to POLITICO, they have a majority of signatures from 9: Colorado, Washington state, Utah, Minnesota, Wyoming, Maine, Iowa, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The group says former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey has submitted the signatures to the convention secretary.
Submitting those signatures would force a roll call floor vote from all 2,472 delegates to the convention on the Republican National Committee rules that an 112-member panel voted through last week. Those rules required pledged delegates to vote for the candidate dictated by their state’s primary or caucus results, a system that would allow Trump to clear the number of votes he needs for a nomination. The faction is hoping those rules will be voided and replaced with rules that allow delegates to vote their conscience.
While they’re highly unlikely to win the roll call vote, the Never Trump delegates hope to at least draw attention to their cause and, with a large vote count, prove what they've long claimed: that a significant section of the party still doesn't support the presumptive nominee.
The RNC and Trump campaign have been working to avoid such a vote, hoping to present a united front at the convention.
