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Registered Idaho Republican voters will gather at caucus sites across the state Saturday to help pick the GOP nominee for president.

The presidential caucus is new this year because the Idaho Legislature seemingly unintentionally eliminated the presidential primary election last year and then did not restore it by passing a trailer bill or calling a special session.

That means elections will be different this year for Idahoans, who will vote in both a party presidential nominating caucus and a separate statewide party primary election.

Voters need to be present at their caucus site to participate; there is no option for absentee voting in the Republican Presidential Caucus.

The caucus is run entirely by the Republican Party from setting up the rules, to selecting the caucus sites, to verifying voter eligibility, to counting the ballots by hand and announcing results.

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Across the state, there are 210 local caucus sites, and voters must attend the local caucus site assigned to them based on their precinct. That local caucus site is probably going to be different than the local polling place Idaho voters are used to because the caucus is run by the party, not the state and county elections offices.

Primary election poll locations will differ in most cases from the caucus locations of both the Idaho GOP and Idaho Democrat presidential caucuses, Canyon County Clerk Rick Hogaboam said in a written statement Thursday. Dont assume that your normal poll location is the same location for the caucuses, nor assume that your caucus location will be the same poll location for the May 21 primary election.

Idaho Republican Party officials told the Idaho Capital Sun they mailed hundreds of thousands of postcards to registered Republicans earlier this month that identify each voters local caucus site.

If voters did not receive a postcard or lost theirs, they can follow a two-step process to find their caucus site.

In order to participate in Saturdays Republican Presidential Caucus, voters must have registered and affiliated with the Republican Party by the partys Dec. 31 deadline.

In order to prove their identity at the polls, voters will need to produce either an Idaho drivers license or state ID card, a U.S. passport or federal photo ID, a tribal ID card or a concealed weapons license.

Once voters enter their caucus site and register, they will be given a paper ballot and participate in one round of voting, Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon told the Sun in February.

There are six candidates on the ballot to choose from:

Although all of the candidates besides Trump and Haley have dropped out of the race, all six candidates still appear on the ballots in Idaho because they paid their $50,000 filing fee, Moon said.

Up for grabs are 32 delegates in Idaho, which candidates hope to win as they seek their partys nomination for president. If one candidate wins a simple majority of votes in the caucus, they will win all 32 delegates. If not, delegates will be split proportionally among all candidates who receive at least 15% of the vote.

News reporters and independent observers who are not registered Republican voters will not be allowed inside the caucus sites or Idaho GOP headquarters to observe the process or observe the vote, Moon said in February.

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The Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus is Saturday. Here's what to know. Idaho Capital Sun - Idaho Capital Sun

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