Elk River sets low in caucus: 1 vote
Mar. 6—Even amidst Saturday's dismal turnout for the Republican presidential caucus in Idaho, Elk River in Clearwater County set a benchmark low with only one vote cast.
Scott Hill, vice chairperson of the Clearwater County Republican central committee and chairperson of the legislative District 2 committee, said Elk River's turnout may be indicative of how voters feel about the election overall.
"We have a real problem," Hill said Tuesday. "A lot of people have just lost their faith in the integrity of the election, independent of party or anything else. They are literally apathetic about voting and that is very dangerous. And (that attitude) is discouraging people from voting."
Hill, who lives in Orofino, said he visited Elk River before Saturday's caucus to make sure people knew about it and had received a postcard in the mail telling them where to vote. People seemed aware of the caucus, he said.
But on the morning of the vote at the Elk River Community Center, Hill waited until about 11:15 a.m. and finally one couple showed up. The man, however, had changed his party affiliation to "independent," which made him ineligible to participate in the Republican caucus. The woman, however, was eligible and cast Elk River's single vote — for Donald Trump.
Hill said he waited until 1:05 p.m. and. when nobody else showed up, he closed up shop.
In spite of the disappointing turnout, "a person who otherwise wouldn't have had a say at all did get to vote, so I think it was worth doing," Hill said.
"I had no experience with the caucus before this event and now that I understand how it works," he said. "I'm a fan of it because the party can have direct contact with the voters. We're trying to figure out how to accommodate people in the military but we didn't have enough time to make it happen this year. We were drinking from a fire hose."
Hill said he thinks maybe a caucus is a better way of doing things than a May primary, even though few people showed up statewide this time.
"I talked to a few people but they were apathetic (about the vote)," he said. "They thought their vote didn't matter. Other than that, it was fine. It was nice to visit with the people who came in."
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
