Idaho Democrats give Sanders 18 delegates, Clinton 5

The one exception to Bernie Sanders’ blowout victory over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s Idaho Democratic caucus: sparsely populated Lewis County, east of Lewiston within the Nez Perce Indian reservation.

In Lewis County, 40 people caucused out of nearly 24,000 statewide. Clinton won there by one vote, 20-19, with one uncommitted voter.

The caucus had a record turnout statewide, far eclipsing the 21,000 people who participated in 2008, when Barack Obama won the state. Sanders received 78 percent of the statewide vote.

In the Ada County caucus in Boise, more than 9,100 people voted in what party officials believe is the largest participation ever at a single caucus location in the U.S. Most states caucus in smaller precinct locations. Sanders got 80.4 percent in Ada County.

The turnout in Boise delayed the start of the caucus there by more than two hours, and some people stood in line three hours or more to enter. Many apparently gave up: Party officials recorded more than 10,000 advance registrations, most of them made in the preceding 24 hours.

“We were actually pretty well prepared. It was just on the day of, when we got that flood of people,” said Dean Ferguson, the state party’s communications director. He said the party would look again at the reservation system, which was “pretty good up until the last day when 10,000 jumped on.”

The party elected 384 delegates who will attend the state convention in June, 298 supporting Sanders and 86 for Clinton. Those delegates will select the state’s representatives to the national nominating convention.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Idaho Democrats give Sanders 18 delegates, Clinton 5."