Record primary turnout slows tally of caucus results

The vast majority of problems came in the Democratic caucuses, where the presidential campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had worked hard to get their supporters to turn out. One-third of the state's delegates will be awarded based on the caucus results.

In the popular vote, Clinton defeated Obama 51 to 49 percent. Democratic Party officials are estimating that with the caucus vote, the delegate count stands at 109 for Obama and 108 for Clinton. In addition, 13 of 35 elected public and party officials - the so-called superdelegates - are still officially uncommitted to any candidate.

Texas Republicans also showed up in record numbers for the March 4 primary, making Sen. John McCain their choice for president and deciding a number of state and local races as well. More than 1.3 million people voted in the Republican primary, which also included three referendum questions involving the enforcement of federal immigration, the use of photo IDs at the polls and putting limits on the growth of local taxes. All three issues passed by a wide margin.

There were no caucuses after the polls closed in the Republican election. Delegates for the presidential campaigns were apportioned according to the popular vote with McCain winning 80 and Mike Huckabee getting 16.

The Texas Democratic Party quit counting caucus delegates from the precinct conventions earlier this week because the effort at the statewide level was voluntary. Party officials say they are comfortable that their projections are accurate. Hector Nieto with the state Democratic Party office said county chairs are now processing the paperwork from the precinct caucuses in preparation for the March 29 county and senatorial conventions where they select delegates for the state convention.

"This was a turnout that was more than anybody would have imagined," Nieto said, adding that the final number of delegates would not be determined until the state Democratic Convention, June 5-7 in Austin.

Meanwhile, precinct chairs from around the state are still trying to sort out the caucus results. According to reports, many ran out of official sign-in sheets for the participants and turned to note pads and scrap pieces of paper to record votes.

The most problems occurred in the Houston and Rio Grande Valley areas, where turnout at some precincts was eight to 10 times the number that normally show up. Harris County party Chair Gerald Birnberg said Houston's 857 precinct results are still coming in. Birnberg said early this week that a dozen workers have been putting in 12-hour days since the March 4 contest just making sure the paperwork was correct. He said they are not even tallying the results yet.

In Hidalgo County, the county chair reportedly closed down his business for several days and changed his cell phone number to try to get the caucus sheets counted. By mid-week this week, he was still counting and had not been able to account for all of his precincts.

The confusion has caused hundreds of complaints about the caucus system to be registered with election officials. State Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said last week that resolutions already had been proposed to change the system. Richie said every Democrat would have the opportunity to address changing the delegate selection system at this year's state convention.