Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz bested Donald Trump in Tuesday’s statewide Presidential Preference Poll, but the New York billionaire beat out the Texas senator by one vote in Haines.
Of 78 registered Republicans casting ballots for a presidential nominee at the Chilkat Center Tuesday, 26 voted for Trump and 25 voted for Cruz. Marco Rubio garnered 18 votes, John Kasich received six and Ben Carson, three.
Statewide, nearly 22,000 Alaskans participated, casting 7,973 votes for Cruz (36.4 percent), 7,346 for Trump (33.5 percent), 3,318 for Rubio (15.1 percent), 2,401 for Carson (10.9 percent) and 892 for Kasich (4.1 percent).
Unlike other Alaskan communities where people lined up out the door to wait for their chance to vote, balloting here was casual. Residents trickled in during the 3 to 8 p.m. window, signed their names on the registration form and dropped votes into a makeshift ballot box crafted from an empty case of Samuel Adams beer covered in iridescent silver wrapping paper.
“There’s a lot of Trump supporters here,” said volunteer Judy Heinmiller, who ran the poll.
Dennis Franks was one. Franks said he voted for Trump because he is tired of politicians and “just wanted an outsider.”
“He’s got no political ties with anyone, especially the Democrat and the Republican hierarchies. So he doesn’t owe them anything. He’s asking for donations, but he’s funding most of his campaign by himself,” Franks said.
Franks said he doesn’t believe Trump will actually build the infamous wall between the United States and Mexico, but he feels immigration is an important issue Trump will tackle. Franks also appreciates that Trump “doesn’t take guff from anybody,” and is “a savvy businessman.”
“He’s a billionaire and he’s self-made, so why wouldn’t he be successful (as president)?” Franks said.
Eddie Bryant was another Trump supporter who turned out Tuesday.
“I just like how he has the establishment all worked up. That has to be a good thing,” Bryant said. “The GOP – the Grand Old Party – they are not so grand anymore. They are just Democrats in disguise.”
While Trump was the top choice, many voters came out to the Chilkat Center to specifically prevent him from winning.
When asked who she was voting for, Crystal Badgley said “anyone but Trump.” Badgley was between voting for Rubio or Cruz because “they both have the higher chance” of taking down Trump.
Resident Jim Green, who rolled into the Chilkat Center toward the end of the night, expressed a similar sentiment, calling Trump “a loose cannon.”
“I do think Trump is tapping a lot of frustration out there, but he’s not someone I would want in office,” Green said.
It came as a surprise to many registered Independent and Undeclared voters that they could not vote in the preference poll unless they were registered as Republicans, volunteer organizer Heinmiller said. “Several people became upset when they realized they had to register as Republican to vote,” she said.
On-site registration was available, and 16 people switched their affiliation in order to cast a vote on Tuesday.
David Disbrow was not one of them. Disbrow, an Independent, showed up under the impression he would be able to vote. “I was a little perturbed because I didn’t realize it,” he said.
Alaska Republican Party communications director Suzanne Downing said the party only allows registered Republicans to vote so others aren’t allowed to sway who the nominee is. “It would not be fair, would not be right, would not be proper to have people who are not part of our party bind our party vote,” she said.
Unless out-of-district votes significantly change the percentages candidates received statewide, Alaska’s 28 delegates to the National Republican Convention will be distributed as follows: 12 for Cruz, 11 for Trump, five for Rubio, and zero for Carson and Kasich.
With 28 delegates – the same number as Oregon – Alaska has a good deal of power in determining the GOP nominee, Downing said. But after the convention, Alaska pretty much ceases to matter in the larger picture, and there’s no real way of sugarcoating that fact, she said.
“We are such a small population state that we only have three electoral votes,” Downing said. “Everybody knows who has won by the time we vote (in the national election).”
Democrats still use a caucus system in Alaska, and registered Democrats will caucus in Haines at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, at the Chilkat Center. Like the preferential poll, participants must be registered Democrats. Registration will be available on site.
A representative for the Alaska Democratic Party said participants should budget 1-2 hours for the caucus, which uses a “presidential fan out” system instead of a paper ballot. Participants will choose between Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Rocky De La Fuente or “Uncommitted.”