Super Tuesday saw record turnout numbers last week for both political parties, though some North Dakota State students struggled to

Minnesota’s GOP website reported 113,905 people caucused for the GOP, whereas the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor website reported 206,078 people caucused for the DFL. Minnesota residents who go to school out-of-state, however, found it difficult to caucus as absentee votes are not allowed.

Minnesota has eight districts and caucusing has to be done in the district of a resident’s permanent residence.

“It’s hard for students to go because you’re supposed to (caucus) in your home district, and for more people, that’s a four-hour drive away,” said Tanner Mjelde, a freshman majoring in management information systems.

Mjelde said he would have caucused for Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

NDSU’s spring 2016 enrollment census summary found 5,995 NDSU students from Minnesota, or 44.5 percent of enrolled students.

WCCO, a Minnesotan CBS affiliate, reported, “Minnesota state colleges and universities are prohibited by law from scheduling school event after 6 p.m. on caucus night” so that students are able to have time to caucus, as opposed to the majority of Minnesotan students at NDSU who would most likely miss classes to go home to caucus in their districts.

The Minnesota Daily reported “the greatest difference between a primary and a caucus, the voters openly decide which candidates to support in a caucus” while “primaries use secret voters. So essentially, voters cast their vote for who they want to support, and it ends there.”

Primaries allow for absentee voting, which is why some push for primaries over caucuses when thinking about military members who are unable to be in their district to caucus.

Minnesota has flipped between primaries and caucuses throughout its history.

Caucuses may be here to stay as this year saw a record high in students who caucused, along with record highs attendance numbers for both GOP and DFL caucuses, matching or beating the previous records set in 2008.

Sanders and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) scooped up Minnesota wins for their parties on Super Tuesday, with 61.6 percent and 36.5 percent of the votes, respectively.