Poll Results: Paul Supporters Voted Early and Often

The downside to an unscientific poll that places no limit on the number of times people can vote is it can sometimes get hijacked by those who feel strongly about an issue or, in this case, a person.

Such was the case with , in which asked readers to tell us who would get their vote for for president if the election were today. By the early morning hours Friday, the day the poll was posted, there were more than 200 votes for Ron Paul and only one each for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Given that Paul, while having done very well, has yet to win a caucus or primary, it was clear his supporters had voted early and voted often.

Only a handful of voters weighed in after that, which is too bad because we here at Patch would like to know how readers really feel on the presidential issue. That's OK. We'll try again in a few weeks and see if we have better luck.

The end result was this: Paul, 286 votes; Romney, 28 votes; Gingrich, 27 votes; Rick Santorum, 8.

As for the question on whether readers believed a Republican candidate could unseat President Obama, the vote was 226 yes and 60 no.