SOUTHERN UTAH – Democrats and Republicans across Utah are gearing up for their respective caucuses Tuesday. With it being a presidential-election year in which caucus-goers are given the opportunity to cast ballots for presidential candidates, party leaders are anticipating a big turnout.
In recent days Utah has been visited by Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich, the latter holding a town hall in St. George on Saturday. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also visited the state.
Votes at the caucuses Tuesday will help determine which presidential candidates get Utah’s delegate votes. The Utah Republican Party sports 40 delegates, while the Democrats have 37.
Fox 13 News reported that, according to a recent Y2 Analytics poll conducted between March 17 and March 19 among Republican caucus-goers, Cruz was favored at 53 percent, Kasich garnering 29 percent and Trump in last with 11 percent.
Delegates for Republican candidates will be divvied out proportionally to the votes cast. However, if one candidate gets over 50 percent, it’s winner-take-all. Democratic delegates are awarded to the candidates based on the votes they get.
Starting this year the Utah GOP is allowing party members to cast ballots online. Party officials announced Saturday that around 30,000 Republicans registered to vote online, according to the Associated Press.
Overall, the Utah GOP is anticipating around 200,000 Republicans to attend caucus meetings statewide Tuesday.
The Utah Democratic Party did not offer online voting, and instead will take ballots at the caucus meetings.
Caucus night: When and where
Democratic caucus meetings will begin at 6 p.m. and the Republican Caucus meetings will begin at 7 p.m.
A list of Republican caucus meeting locations in Washington County can found on the Washington County Republican Party website. Locations of caucus meetings in Iron County can be found on the Iron County Republican website.
Democratic caucus meeting locations in Washington County are listed here. Iron County Democrats will meet in the auditorium of the Canyon View Middle School in Cedar City.
Caucus-goers can also visit Vote.Utah.gov in order to locate their local precinct.
Republican caucus meetings are closed to nonparty members, while the Democratic caucus meetings are open to anyone to attend. Both require valid state-issued identification in order to vote.
The two major parties aren’t the only ones holding their caucus meetings in March. The Washington County Constitution Party will hold a joint caucus and convention on March 29, at 7 p.m., at the Washington County Chambers located at 197 E. Tabernacle St. in St. George.
Resources
- County, state and federal filings – Candidates aplenty for 2016 election cycle
- Republican Party – Washington County | Iron County
- Democrat Party – Washington County | Iron County
- Constitution Party – Washington County
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