DENVER – A couple hundred Donald Trump supporters gathered on the steps of the Colorado Capitol chanting “Stop the Steal” on Friday and demanding the state Republican party nullify 34 delegates awarded to Ted Cruz through a complex caucus system.

“We want a voice. We want a vote,” said Matt Behrens, 34, of Arvada. “This is not about who won the state of Colorado. It’s about the fact that Coloradoans did not get to vote. The fact that we had no vote at all.”

Behrens and his wife took credit for mobilizing the crowd to protest Friday after launching a website calling for the state GOP to redo its delegate selection, this time with a binding straw-poll.

Colorado held local caucus meetings on March 1, but didn’t hold a presidential preference poll. Instead delegates were selected to move forward in the process and represent the state at the GOP national convention in July.

Erin Behrens, 28, said she and her husband were in Precinct 120, and an informal poll of attendees that showed a majority supported Trump. All of the delegates sent to the next level supported other candidates.

“The 34 delegates who were elected on Saturday, they don’t represent us and they don’t represent a majority of Colorado Republicans,” Behrens said.

Cruz swept Colorado, winning all 21 delegates elected at congressional district assemblies and all 13 delegates elected at the state assembly on Saturday.

Political analysts have credited the victory to Cruz’s sophisticated campaign and groundwork and Trump’s lack of organization in Colorado. The protesters at the Capitol say Trump could have had the most sophisticated campaign ever and it wouldn’t have mattered because the system was rigged.

Erin Behrens said she didn’t realize how badly rigged the system was until the result on Saturday. She said she hoped that other caucus meetings had gone better than hers, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

Without a formal vote to bind delegates, former Trump campaign staffer Jim Baker said, the GOP would have ensured Trump delegates didn’t move forward.

The decision not to hold a straw poll was made by the Colorado Republican Party executive committee in August.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

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DENVER, CO – APRIL 15: Pete Stouder, right, of Denver joins a small crowd as they gather on the west steps of the state capitol in Denver to protest the state’s delegate selection process last weekend at the state GOP convention in Colorado Springs. The caucus process this year is the same used in prior elections where party members nominate delegates at the precinct level to higher levels. (Photo by Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post)

Kathryn Scott Osler