TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) – Idaho voters said Tuesday that they favor Ted Cruz over Donald Trump as their choice of Republican candidate for the White House. Twin Falls County voters said much the same thing, giving Cruz almost 49 percent of their votes. Trump came in second with nearly 29 percent of county voters vying on his behalf.

Almost 10,000 voters turned out at county precincts to cast their ballot in the Republican primary. Only 23 county voters cast their ballot on the Constitutional ticket.

“It was a fairly good turnout for just the one party,” County Clerk Kristina Glascock said of the GOP primary. “It brought out a lot of people who never have voted before.”

Some precincts on Tuesday afternoon saw steady lines of voters. By midafternoon more than 150 voters had turned out at the Twin Falls Church of the Nazarene, precincts 17-18, said precinct clerk Annett Esplin, who was both surprised and thrilled by the response of her district. Voters kept coming.

Lines remained steady at other polling locations, including the Twin Falls Reformed Church and local LDS stake centers.

Photo by Andrew Weeks
Photo by Andrew Weeks
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While voting began quickly Tuesday morning and remained steady throughout the day, counting of the ballots started slow Tuesday night at the election office inside the Twin Falls County Building. Voters were still in line at some precincts when the polls closed at 8 p.m. The county also ran out of ballots and had to make copies, which then had to be count counted and delaying the process further.

“We’re off to a really slow start,” Glascock said Tuesday night.

Several election staff members were still at the County Building after 1 a.m. Wednesday going over the results.

On the ballot also were four bond and levy proposals by the Cassia, Castleford, Filer and Hansen school districts. All of them but Cassia’s $14.9 million construction bond proposal received voter approval.

While Idaho awarded Cruz 20 of its 32 delegates, the Texas senator lost in three other states that also held primary elections Tuesday. Trump took 25 of Michigan’s 59 delegates, while Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich each won 17. Trump also won 24 of Mississippi’s 40 delegates and 10 of Hawaii’s 19 delegates.

Overall, Trump still leads nationwide with 458 delegates, according to the Associated Press, with Cruz in second place but tightening the gap with 359 delegates. A candidate needs 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination.

Michigan and Mississippi also held Democratic caucuses Tuesday, with frontrunner Hillary Clinton winning the Magnolia State and Bernie Sanders taking Michigan. The Democrats will caucus locally on March 22.

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