How many former Democrats voted in Idaho’s Republican primary? Here’s what numbers say

Alex Brizee
·2 min read
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Idahoans voted Tuesday in numbers similar to prior election years, according to preliminary data. That’s in spite of the tense divide in many races — including the highly anticipated governor’s race.

Secretary of State Chief Deputy Chad Houck told the Idaho Statesman by phone that there was a registered voter turnout of roughly 30%, according to initial numbers. Houck clarified that these numbers are not final and do not include voters that registered Tuesday.

The last time Idaho saw major statewide races was in 2018, which had a turnout of 32.6% of registered voters for the primary, according to data from the Secretary of State Office’s website.

Several of Tuesday night’s losing candidates have taken to social media with claims that Democratic voters “infiltrated” the election, including Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who lost the gubernatorial nomination to Gov. Brad Little by more than 57,000 votes. In a Facebook post Wednesday, McGeachin claimed there were “tens of thousands of democrats and liberals infiltrating the Republican Primary to support (Little).”

In the month prior to the deadline to choose a party affiliation, only 3,723 Democrats switched to the Republican Party, Houck told the Statesman. In addition, 6,172 unaffiliated voters — or roughly 60% of all registered voters who switched affiliation — registered as Republicans.

Overall, almost 10,000 registered voters in Idaho changed their party affiliation between February and the March 11 cutoff for changing affiliation, Houck said. That represents about 1% of Idaho’s 995,474 registered voters. Houck said the idea that tens of thousands of Democrats ousted Republican Party candidates is just “not the case.”

Former state legislator Branden Durst made similar claims to McGeachin, saying he earned more votes from “actual Republicans,” the Statesman previously reported. Durst was defeated by former State Board of Education president Debbie Critchfield in the superintendent of public instruction race.

“The @IdahoGOP must address it’s Democrat primary crossover problem,” Durst tweeted. “There is no honor in victory when you need the other team to get you across the finish line.”

State Rep. Chad Christensen — who was ousted by Ammon Councilman Josh Wheeler in a GOP primary — said the political action committee Take Back Idaho “encouraged Democrats to cross over and vote in this primary election.” According to Take Back Idaho’s website, the PAC was formed “to take Idaho back from the grip of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, its partner organizations, and their acolytes in the GOP legislative ranks.”