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In February, Rina Slade registered in advance to attend the Republican Party caucus on Tuesday night.
Slade, a Canyons Village resident, said she never received a confirmation from the GOP with instructions for participation in the caucus, including the location. She understood the site to be Ecker Hill Middle School, though, and headed there for the gathering.
Upon arrival, however, Slade said, the Summit County GOP may simply not locate your registration. Slade said he registered at the caucus site and was eventually allowed in, but the challenge he encountered was just one example of the challenges besetting Republicans on a day in the 2024 election cycle.
“They were definitely overwhelmed,” he said. “There were many other people like me; They said they were pre-registered. They must have known that many other people were going to show up.
The crowd at Ecker Hill High School was larger than Slade had anticipated. Eventually, he was allowed to vote in the presidential preference vote, the most important caucus case. Their vote went to Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. Haley ended her bid for president. Republican nomination in the race for the White House the day after the caucuses.
“It was disorganized. We were just able to go to a booth and cast our vote in a booth,” Slade said, noting that he has never missed an election since he was 18.
Donald Trump won Summit County by a wide margin in Tuesday’s presidential preference poll, according to early returns released through the state Republican Party. The former president won 337 votes, or 57. 7 percent, while Haley won 245 votes, or 42 percent. with votes from approximately part of the districts in Summit County and will be updated throughout the party. Trump lost Summit County, one of the state’s most reliably Democratic counties, on Election Day in 2016 and then came back while seeking re-election 4 years. later.
Another user in the Ecker Hill High School caucus, Jeff Pierce, an Old Town resident, said his presence on Tuesday was based on a preference to participate at a critical time in Utah and the United States. He declined to identify his variety in the GOP race. presidential nomination.
“The state and the country are at a crossroads. If I don’t make my voice heard, I shouldn’t expect it to be heard,” Pierce said, explaining that “efficiency” is a characteristic when choosing candidates.
Pierce said the caucus also offers an opportunity for multiple positions in the November election, when seats in Congress, Capitol Hill and County Court will be decided along with the White House.
“I think the top of the ticket is the least important reason for me to be here,” he said.
Participants in the Ecker Hill High School caucus heard brief remarks from Summit County party leaders before gathering in the community for their deliberations. The Summit County Republican Party said another 435 people attended Ecker Hill High School.
“We were certainly thrilled with the caucus turnout,” said Jimmy May, the party’s interim regional chairman in Park City. As far as the party knows, he said, the countywide turnout is the most productive ever recorded.
He said GOP leadership in Summit County “pulled out all the stops” to publicize the caucuses.
May also said the online pre-registration procedure was “almost perfect, as far as I know. “There were issues with in-person check-in Tuesday with “a few people,” he said. May added that she was not aware of any registered Republicans who had been turned away from the Summit County caucuses.
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