Savannah Perkins

By Savannah Perkins

 

Thousands more Cache County residents than expected streamed in and out of Mount Logan Middle School on Tuesday evening to participate in the Republican caucus.

“It makes me feel great to have that kind of turn out,” said Boyd Pugmire, the chairman of the Republican Party for Cache County. “However, logistically we have some things to work on.”

Supplies ran out because the increased turnout was not anticipated, Pugmire said.  Many of the 100 volunteers ran back and forth making copies of new ballots and distributing them to the overflowing precincts.

 “I think because of this caucus people are going to get a lot more involved,” Pugmire said. “In 2010 we only had 2,700 people attend the caucus; there is a possibility of 15 to 20,000 people here tonight.”

Pugmire said 33 of the 86 precincts in the county met at this location so this is where they put the most emphasis with volunteers.

 “The turnout was higher than expected, so they didn't have enough forms printed out,” said Jashon Bishop, a five year Cache County resident attending his third caucus. “An improvement could be assigning precincts with historically higher turnout to larger rooms.”

Bishop said he only stood in line for around 30 minutes and the actual nomination and election of delegates and the presidential nominee was smooth and quick. However, he said even though it had a similar turnout to the 2012 Republican caucus in Cache County, this year was less organized.

“Some precincts were really big and so I know there was some frustration for people that by the time they got to their precinct the voting was over,” said Peter Gilbert, the Utah State University College Republicans president. “Some people were complaining that the whole time they were just trying to find a chair instead of voting.”

Pugmire said he admired the efforts of the party leadership and volunteers to help with the increasing crowds.

“The night itself I think went great,” Pugmire said. “I think this is what it is all about, having more people involved and more people having a voice.”