Election Notes

Ron Paul

• Good news for Ron Paul fans: The Libertarian-friendly Republican presidential hopeful from Texas is the party's No. 5 candidate in terms of delegates. He currently has six convention pledges (four from Nevada, two from Iowa). This means, going into the Florida primaries, he's ahead of Rudy Giuliani, who only has two. Two other GOP contenders have dropped out. Rep. Duncan Hunter, who won the Republican Party of Texas presidential straw poll last September, has abandoned the race and his sole Wyoming delegate. Citing his failure "to gain traction in conservative states," he said he would return to Congress to concentrate on the 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill. And on Tuesday, former U.S. senator from Tennessee and lobbyist Fred Thompson also withdrew. Running a distant fourth with eight delegates, Thompson said, "I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort." – Richard Whittaker

• A concerned citizen named Mike Conwell contacted the Chronicle as we were going to press and said while working as a Travis County poll worker in the November 2007 election he encountered several voters who thought they were registered to vote but instead had been purged from the rolls. This led him to audit records at the Travis Co. Tax Office, and he believes that as many as 1,400 active voters may have been improperly removed from the rolls shortly after casting ballots in recent elections. The Chron­icle wishes to emphasize that we have not had a chance to review Conwell's research or get a response from Travis Co. officials, but even if Conwell is wrong, it still doesn't hurt to confirm your voter registration. The easiest way to do so is by going to www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterSearch.do. Or you can call 854-9473. If you received a new voter-registration card within the past couple of months, you're OK. If you are not registered and want to vote in the March 4 primaries, you have until Feb. 4 to get signed up (also by going to that website or calling the above phone number). – Lee Nichols