It wasn’t the easiest of Saturdays to get out the vote—from road closures for a city-wide marathon to afternoon drizzle. (Any Washingtonian knows that either of those factors is enough to send us into gridlock.) But D.C. Republicans turned up and patiently waited in a line that wrapped around three city blocks. The popular refrain of the day: “Wow, I didn’t realize there were so many Republicans in this city!” The D.C. Board of Elections counts 27,998 registered Republicans to be exact. But I can tell you their numbers are off, and I found out the hard way.

After waiting in line for three hours, chatting with my neighbors and fellow Republicans, I finally reached the gateway to the inner room. I eagerly offered up my last name and waited to be waved in. But much to my surprise, my name was nowhere to be found on the GOP registry. A quick search of the database by a caucus volunteer found me registered as “no party”—despite the fact that my D.C. voter registration card reads “Republican.” Little consolation though it was, the volunteers informed me I wasn’t the only one. In fact, at the time I arrived at the registration checkpoint, I was the 60th District resident to be left off the Republican rolls by my local election board. With the polls open another couple hours after that, one can assume that number increased, and in election results separated by just 50 votes, that’s a notable margin.