IDAHO, USA — According to turnout numbers from Idaho's GOP, a lot of registered Republicans opted to not show up, or were confused about caucus times and locations. Trump was the winner with 85% of the vote.
However, even though the Idaho GOP called it a successful "re-enfranchisement of Idaho Republican voters...after the cancellation of the presidential primary." Some Republican voters felt disenfranchised and the caucus had a fairly low turnout compared to past Idaho presidential primaries.
There were several posts on social media about the number of people that showed up to the caucus. One of them was from Nick Martin who posted from Lowell Scott Middle School's gymnasium about 30 minutes after the caucus started.
District 15 numbers show there are supposedly just under 13,766 registered republicans.
According to the GOP website, 885 ballots were boxed, for a total of just 6.4% of registered Republicans in District 15.
There were similar sights in District 16, that had two voting locations. Just 746 voters decided to show up, out of 11,149.
That is a turnout rate of 6.7%.
What about District 17? Natalie Fleming posted this video showing the relatively low number of ballots being dumped on a table, and about to be counted.
There are more than 10,691 registered Republicans on this part of the Boise Bench. With just 623 total votes tallied, that's just at 5.8% participation.
In all of Ada County, there are more than 146,816 registered Republicans. With fewer than 9,649 voting in the 2024 Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus. That's only about 6.6% taking part.
How does that compare with previous GOP primaries?
How about we go apples to apples, since primaries and caucuses aren't the same thing. So, let's go back to 2012, the one and only time Idaho's GOP did a caucus, and was part of Super Tuesday.
In the most recent 2024 caucus, with nearly 600,000 registered Republicans in Idaho...not even 40,000 took part.
That's only 6.8%.
Back in 2012, based on 2013 numbers from the Secretary of State's website, Idaho had roughly 230,000 registered republicans, and more than 44,000 jumped into the caucus party 12 years ago. Which is about 19%.
Still a low number compared to how many show up for primaries, historically around 20 to 25%. Only about a third of who showed up in 2012, showed up for 2024.
For some perspective, the Iowa Republican Caucus from two months ago, had its lowest voter turnout in more than a decade.
Less than 15%.
Idaho holding a March caucus to make it relevant in the national picture for picking a president is still up for debate, especially considering no candidates stepped foot in the Gem State and fewer than 40,000 decided for the nearly 600,000 voters they represent.
Which some critics point out, was kind of the point.
KTVB tried to ask Chairwoman Dorothy Moon about this but did not receive a response.
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