More than 1.2 million registered Republicans in Kentucky have the chance to take part in the state’s Republican presidential caucus on Saturday. At stake are Kentucky’s 46 delegates to the national convention.
Some are predicting only a fraction will turn out to cast their ballots.
"I’m telling you, across the state I’ve talked to any number of Republicans who don’t even know there is a caucus," said Scott Hofstra of Elizabethtown.
Hofstra chairs the Central Kentucky Tea Party and is the volunteer chairman for the Ted Cruz campaign in Kentucky. He says the voters who are going to the caucus are excited, but a little apprehensive.
"Even if they’re aware of it, they’ve not been very well-informed about what the caucus is all about and how it’s going to work," Hofstra added. "The state just has not done a good job of getting the word out.”
The Kentucky Republican Party set up a website and telephone hotline for voters to get more information ahead of Saturday. State GOP Chairman Mike Biagi says he feels good about the public’s awareness of the caucus.
"The state party has been reaching out to local newspaper, TV, and radio," Biagi told WKU Public Radio. "I’ve done over 100 interviews just since the Iowa caucus with Kentucky media and social media, and the county parties are working to promote it locally, as well.”
Mark Haines, vice-chair of the Barren County Republican Party, says local parties simply haven’t had the resources to promote the caucus.
"There was actually no money appropriated to publicize it," commented Haines. "The conversations that I heard was that the candidates would actually spend the money to drive voter awareness and it doesn’t seem that it has actually happened.”
Supporters of the caucus idea point to the fact that the state has been visited this week by Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Kentucky rarely receives such attention from presidential candidates during the primary season.
Had he stayed in the race, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul would have likely motivated turnout. Freshman Brooke DeCesare is a member of College Republicans at Western Kenutucky University. She was disappointed when Paul suspended his presidential bid.
"He’s a hometown boy for me from Bowling Green. I’ve met Rand Paul a few times and thought he was an awesome candidate," DeCesare said. "He’s been out of the race long enough that everyone’s had enough time to generate excitement for other candidates.”
DeCesare plans to take part in Saturday’s caucus. Her candidate now is Marco Rubio.
WKU Political Science Professor Joel Turner helped conduct a recent poll that showed a split among the number of Kentucky Republicans engaged in the caucus.
"Half of the people we surveyed knew where their caucus location was and the other half didn’t," Turner said. "The question is, we’re less than a week out, and if you don’t know where you’re supposed to be going, will you take the time to learn at this point?”
How many Republicans show up Saturday may determine if a caucus has a future in Kentucky.
"The case was made at the state central committee to do this and it was almost like a trial where we heard both sides," explained Haines. "My guess is that after Saturday, the 25 percent who voted not to have it will say 'I told you so', and there will be a debate in the party to decide if we do this again next year."
After Saturday, Kentucky Republicans aren’t quite finished with their voting. They’ll go back to their normal polling place in May to choose the GOP candidates for Congress and the state legislature.
Copyright 2016 WKU Public Radio
