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Why One Candidate Could Get All Of Idaho’s Republican Delegates

Emilie Ritter Saunders
/
Boise State Public Radio/ StateImpact Idaho

Polls are open from 8:00 am until 8:00 Tuesday night for Idaho’s Republican presidential primary. To cast a ballot, voters have to affiliate with the GOP, and registration is allowed at polling stations. There are 13 candidates on the Republican ballot. That could complicate who gets Idaho’s 32 delegates.

Idaho is not a winner-take-all state but there are a couple scenarios that could play out that would give one candidate all the delegates. First, anyone who gets more than 50 percent of the vote gets all of Idaho’s Republican delegates. That’s unlikely with so many names on the ballot and four people still actively campaigning.

But anyone who gets less than 20 percent of the vote will be awarded no delegates. So hypothetically, if three candidates get just 18 or 19 percent, then the fourth candidate could get all the delegates with far fewer than half the votes.

Another hypothetical is that a candidate could do well enough to get Idaho delegates and then drop out of the race. If that happens, the state GOP will decide who gets those delegates at its convention in June. 

Members of Idaho's Constitution Party will also go to the polls Tuesday to choose from three candidates. 

Find Adam Cotterell on Twitter @cotterelladam

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