Heavy turnout in Minnesota share of Super Tuesday vote

Published 7:46 pm Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Field reports are confirming heavy turnout in Minnesota’s Super Tuesday caucuses.

At the Maple Grove Middle School in that northwest Minneapolis suburb, hundreds of voters began pouring in before caucus registration began. A half hour before start time, the auditorium was full and organizers began directing newcomers to smaller rooms that also quickly filled.

Dozens of attendees wanting to hear from speakers such as former gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek crammed into the entranceways, lined the aisles and covered the floor of the auditorium.

As Johnson, the state chair for Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign, told voters that his candidate was the only one who could beat Hilary Clinton, the auditorium erupted in a thunderous applause.

Meanwhile, more than a thousand voters wound around staircases and hallways inside a Minneapolis recreation center, waiting in line to cast ballots for the Democratic caucus. One precinct holding its caucus in the building ran out of printed ballots less than an hour into the voting, forcing officials to use scraps of notebook paper. DFL party officials said the votes would be accepted.

Minnesota’s Democratic and Republican parties say turnout is heavy in the night’s precinct caucuses.

The big draw in each is a chance to weigh in on the presidential nominating process. The state is often an afterthought, but this cycle is part of the so-called Super Tuesday sweepstakes nationwide.

Neither party had updated numbers, but Democrats said activity was heavy in the metro area around Minneapolis-St. Paul. Republicans said they were seeing big turnout in the suburbs.

Both parties had predicted turnout would be high.