POST FALLS, Idaho — Idaho legislators accidentally passed a bill last year that took away the state's primary election. So a caucus had to be held in its place. It's the first time Idaho held a caucus in 12 years.
"It's just going really smooth from what we can tell," caucus captain Jeff Tyler said, "We had a lot of folks show up a little early."
Tyler's role was to make sure the caucus ran smoothly. He expected a turnout of about 10-15% of registered Republicans for the caucuses. Tyler says his team spent almost six months preparing for Saturday's caucus.
"We expected turnout to be a little bit lower though because this is just a once every four-year thing," Tyler said. "We've got a system in place, and we opened up our boxes that have the ballots this morning with witnesses. And then those ballots are right there on the table that everybody can see,"
Vote Joe Danielson said that even if the turnout is low, he knows people who vote at the caucus represent most of the party. The voter said he came out to the caucus to fulfill his civic duty.
"I think pretty much everyone's kind of like the same mind." Danielson said, "There's so much fraud and, and it makes it easy to do that. So I think it's important to come out here in person."
To cast their votes, all voters needed to show an ID to prove they were residents of the area they were voting in.
Other voters like Annette Greb said it went smoother than she expected.
"We didn't stand in lines forever. We didn't have to sit there. We weren't confused by what was going on. So it worked really well," Greb said. "There are people that have a strong opinion about what's going on, and they want to be part of it."
There's something special about voting in person. No cameras were allowed inside the caucus sites.
"We didn't want anybody being uncomfortable and they didn't want to be on TV," Tyler said.
Tyler says he's unsure if the gem state will hold another caucus for the next presidential primary. That will instead depend on what the Idaho State Legislature decides.
The caucus lasted about 2 hours on Saturday. There will also be a democratic caucus on May 23 in Idaho.
For more information on the Republican caucus, click here.
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