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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

13 Republicans, 3 Constitution Party candidates file for Idaho’s March 8 presidential primary

Thirteen Republicans and three Constitution Party candidates for president filed for Idaho’s new March presidential primary election by yesterday’s 5 p.m. deadline and will appear on the March 8 primary ballot.

The 13 Republicans are: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Peter Messina, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump.

The three Constitution Party candidates are Scott Copeland of Weatherford, Texas; J.R. Myers of Soldotna, Alaska; and Patrick Anthony Ockander of San Antonio, Texas.

Only registered Republicans will be allowed to vote in the GOP primary; only registered Constitution Party members will be allowed to vote in that party’s presidential primary; both parties elected to go that route. If any local bond or levy measures are on the ballot, a nonpartisan ballot also would be made available for people to vote on it, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s office. Unaffiliated voters can affiliate with the party at the polls in order to participate. Idaho Democrats will be holding county party caucuses on March 22 to select their presidential nominee.

As of Dec. 1, Idaho had 740,567 registered voters. Of those, 2,263 were registered members of the Constitution Party; 297,424 were registered Republican; 70,173 were registered Democrats; 4,669 were registered Libertarians; and 366,038 were unaffiliated.

Betsy Z. Russell

Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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