What this year’s Utah Republican caucus will look like and why it’s different
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Republican Party will hold a presidential preference poll during Tuesday night’s caucuses for the second time since the turn of the century.
Political parties have caucuses regularly to select local party leaderships and delegates at their state conventions, however, this year the GOP is including a presidential preference poll at the events. The Utah Republican Party said they decided to do it this way because they believe meeting with the community to engage them in the political process yields more productive discourse.
Here is a breakdown of the process as it can be a bit intimidating to newcomers.
What is a caucus?
A caucus is defined as “a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or to decide on policy,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Only those who are registered with the party, which in this case is the Republican party, can participate in the caucuses. For those who are currently unaffiliated, they may register as a Republican any time before the end of the meeting and still attend. However, it is too late for those registered with another party to switch affiliations as that deadline passed in January.
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How to participate?
Registered Republicans who wish to participate in Tuesday’s caucuses can check in at their respective locations at 6 p.m. The event is estimated to end around 9 p.m. To determine where to go in your area and to pre-register online, visit the GOP website.
Pre-registering should allow attendees to check in faster and will allow for the individual to get an absentee ballot if they cannot attend the full caucus. Participants will need their state IDs to check in to the event.
What is the process?
The caucus begins with the host — selected by the county party — introducing the meeting and reviewing the rules.
Then the next portion of the meeting is nominating and voting on precinct leadership and state delegates. These individuals will represent the area for the next two years which includes voting at the state convention.
Following the local voting process, the meeting will move on to presidential candidates. Participants will get a ballot where they will mark one candidate’s name, with no write-in option available. There is only one round of voting for the presidential preference poll.
The host will report the results of the poll to the county party which will pass it on to the state party. The state party will then announce the final result.
Stay tuned as ABC4 will be reporting on the election results online and on-air as they become available.
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