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 The
voting precincts throughout Minnesota were reporting nearly the same
type of turnout for precinct caucuses on Tuesday night, rooms were
overflowing. Many locations reportedly ran out of presidential
preference ballots and had to have more printed.
Pictured: At the North Branch South Democratic precint caucus,
Dennis Johnson assisted attendees with registration. The caucus
had to move to another room because of the high turnout.
John Aiken, director of communications for the Secretary of State,
reported very high turnout numbers for both the Democratic and
Republican parties.
He said Republicans reported 61,638 caucus attendees from 3457 districts or 83.87 percent of the total of 4122 districts.
Democrats reported 202,609 caucus attendees from 3340 districts or 81 percent of the total of 4122 districts.
These numbers from both parties reportedly shattered previous records.
The state Democrats last reported such a high number in 1972. Party
officials predicted a turnout of about 70,000 for the caucuses.
The Independence Party began its virtual caucus process and will
continue that through the month. No results are available at this time.
At mid-morning Wednesday, the Republican and Democratic vote counts were as follows:
Republican
Romney 25,587
McCain 13,474
Huckabee 12,278
Paul 9,662
Democratic
Obama 135,174
Clinton 64,561
Chisago County numbers were as follows, according to the Secretary of State Web site:
Republican
Huckabee 148
McCain 145
Romney 393
Paul 88
Keys 2
Democratic
Clinton 587
Obama 659
Locally, caucus rooms filled up with more people than ever, following
the state trend for turnout. Some moderators made note that there are
usually no more than a handful on hand. And some sites had to improvise
ballots and use back sides of registration forms.
 Long
lines formed at North Branch High School where the Democratic Party
held its caucus. Registration of the large number of people caused a
delay in the starting time.
Rush City Republican Caucus Chairman Carl Heinrich, left, talked
with Bruce Banta of Rush City about caucus proceedings Tuesday night at
Rush City High School. More than 60 people attended the Republican
caucus. Heinrich said the turnout was 10 times higher than usual. “In
the past, we would be lucky if we had a half dozen people show up,” he
said.
At the North Branch Middle School, the large number of Republicans
showing up for the caucus required splitting the group and sending half
to the east cafeteria.
Among those attending were a number of people who had never been to a
caucus before. Also, a number of people came only for the presidential
preference vote. Of those, some stayed out of curiosity never having
attended a caucus. Others left as soon as they made their choice.
Wednesday morning, Jim Stein, chairman of the Chisago County GOP Party said turnout far exceeded expectations.
People were standing in line before the doors opened in Rush City to have their chance to caucus.
Rush City Republican Caucus Chairman Carl Heinrich said approximately
60 people attended the caucus and the turnout was 10 times higher than
normal.
“In the past, we would be lucky if we had a half dozen people show up,” he said.
Overall, Heinrich said he was pleased with the turnout and the enthusiasm of the people who caucused.
In North Branch, at the DFL caucus Dennis Johnson had one word to say about the turnout. “Fantastic.”
He said it was four times more than in 2004 and three times higher than anything he has seen in 25 years.
He attributed the turnout, and believed it was the same for the
Republicans, to people wanting to have a say. And perhaps the early
campaigning helped.
He believed what the county saw was an energized group of people.
Compiled by MaryHelen Swanson, Patrick Tepoorten, Steve Morris and Howard Lestrud
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