(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP chairwoman announces Trump wins Idaho’s 2024 Republican presidential caucus • Florida Phoenix [1] ['Clark Corbin', 'More From Author', '- March'] Date: 2024-03-03 Para leer esta historia en español, haga clic aquí. Former President Donald J. Trump overwhelmingly won the Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus on Saturday, burying his closest rival Nikki Haley and claiming all 32 Idaho delegates, Idaho GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon announced. At about 6:35 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday, Moon announced that Trump held an insurmountable lead with 84% of the state’s caucus sites reporting. “We haven’t quite finished up our tabulations, but I am thrilled to announce that the Idaho Republican Party announces that President Donald J. Trump has won the Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus,” Moon told reporters at the Idaho Republican Party’s headquarters in downtown Boise. The Associated Press had called the Idaho Presidential Caucus for Trump at 5 p.m. Final results were posted to the Idaho GOP Presidential Caucus website at 8:20 p.m. “Idaho has reaffirmed its steadfast support for Trump today,” Moon added. “We recognize that our state stands as a beacon of support for Republican ideals, reaffirming Idaho’s status as Trump Country.” Complete results released by the Idaho Republican Party on Saturday night showed: Trump: 33,603 votes, 84.89% Haley: 5,221 votes, 13.19% Ron DeSantis: 534 votes, 1.35% Vivek Ramaswamy: 95 votes, 0.24% Chris Christie: 91 votes, 0.23% Ryan L. Binkley: 40 votes, 0.10% Even though all of the candidates in the Republican field dropped out besides Trump and Haley, the other four candidates’ names appeared on the ballots in Idaho because they paid the $50,000 filing fee, Moon said. Moon told the Sun she did not vote in Saturday’s caucus because she was working at Republican Party headquarters in downtown Boise and her caucus site was near her Stanley-area home. Moon also told the Sun on Saturday evening that she did not yet know what percentage of Idaho’s registered Republican voters turned out for the caucus. Why Idaho Republicans voted in a caucus rather than a primary election The presidential nominating caucus was new for Idaho voters this year. Idaho Republicans had not held a caucus since 2012, and Idaho Democrats had not had a caucus since 2016. Idaho voters had been voting in primary elections. But last year the Idaho Legislature unintentionally eliminated the presidential primary election. Legislators passed House Bill 138, which was designed to move the presidential primary election back from March to May, when the state’s other primary elections take place. But instead of moving the presidential primary back to May, the law actually just eliminated the primary election. When the Idaho Legislature didn’t fix the mistake and reinstate the presidential primary election, Idaho’s political parties created their own caucuses. The Idaho Democratic Presidential Caucus is scheduled for May 23. For Saturday’s Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus, voters gathered at 210 local caucus sites across the state. In order to participate, voters had to register and affiliate with the Idaho Republican Party by Dec. 31 and participate in person at noon Mountain time, 11 a.m. Pacific time. There was no absentee voting or early voting in the Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus, but an absentee option will be available for Idaho Democrats, according to the party’s website. Active duty members of the U.S. military serving away from home, religious missionaries, people who had to work, people who were ill and people who were unable to travel to their GOP caucus site were unable to attend. News reporters and independent observers who were not registered Republicans were not allowed into the caucus cites or allowed to observe the tabulation of votes at GOP headquarters in downtown Boise, Moon said, citing Idaho Republican Party rules. During state-run primaries and elections, news reporters and poll watchers are allowed inside polling locations and are allowed to watch the Idaho State Board of Canvassers certify election results. Idaho voters will head back to the polls on May 21 for the state primary election that features legislative candidates, county commissioners, county prosecutors, county sheriffs and other local races. Presidential candidates will not appear on the May 21 primary election ballots. Two days later, on May 23, Idaho Democrats will conduct their presidential nominating caucus. Voters who voted in the Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus will not be allowed to vote in the Idaho Democratic Presidential Caucus. The general election is set for Nov. 5. This story was published earlier by the Idaho Capital Sun, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/03/03/gop-chairwoman-announces-trump-wins-idahos-2024-republican-presidential-caucus/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/