The Utah Republican Party released the final results of its presidential preference poll on Thursday, more than one week after Super Tuesday caucus meetings were interrupted by confusion and low voter turnout.
Former President Donald Trump secured 56.4% of all votes counted, while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley received 42.7% and Texas businessman Ryan Binkley, who dropped out of the race after ballots were printed, got 1% of the vote.
“The Utah Republican Party congratulates President Trump on his strong performance in Utah — and across the nation — to secure his path to becoming our Party’s nominee,” Utah GOP chairman Robert Axson said in a press release.
According to party bylaws, any candidate who surpasses 50% of the vote total captures all of Utah’s 40 national delegates chosen during the GOP’s state convention in April. These delegates will travel to the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 15-18 where they will vote to make Trump the party’s official presidential nominee to face President Joe Biden in November’s general election.
“It is important that voters everywhere unify to ensure that the Biden administration is stopped,” Axson said. “The constant turmoil, lawlessness and unaffordability that Joe Biden has fostered is a disservice to every American.”
Haley suspended her presidential campaign as Trump’s only remaining primary challenger on March 6, after all 15 Super Tuesday states except for Vermont went for the former president. Trump’s winning margin in Utah of 12,000 votes was less than that of any other red state, excluding Vermont.
Trump won 28 of 29 Utah counties. Haley came in neck and neck with the former president in some of the state’s most populous areas, beating him in Davis County by 300 votes, and losing in Salt Lake County and Utah County by less than 1,000 votes.
In a repeat of 2016, state Republican leadership chose to combine this year’s presidential nominating process with the party’s biennial caucus meetings. But, like 2016, those hoping to participate in precinct activities or signal their preference for a presidential candidate were met with long lines, system failures and confusion over how to vote, particularly in a handful of bottlenecks along the Wasatch Front.
The use of new registration software, the clustering of precinct meetings and the lack of volunteer training led to concerns over election security and voter confidence and may have contributed to a dismal turnout rate of less than 10% of active registered Republicans, compared to roughly 34% in 2016 and 49% in 2020, when the party opted for a state-funded, vote-by-mail primary.
Frustration about the process and outcome of the Utah GOP’s presidential preference poll has pushed at least one state lawmaker to discuss legislative remedies and one former party official to consider legal action, as the Deseret News previously reported.