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Did Democrats Help Kasich Win Ohio Primary?

Kasich delivers victory speech [photo: Nick Castele / ideastream]

There were suggestions all day that Democrats might be a key to a victory for John Kasich in the Republican primary in Ohio. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler checked that out with the state’s top elections chief.

Some have wondered if Kasich’s win is credited to Democratic voters asking for Republican ballots to vote for him, and perhaps against Donald Trump. Secretary of State Jon Husted said there’s no way to tell for certain if that’s what happened.

“We have a lot of anecdotal evidence of that," Husted said, "but you always gotta be careful about that because remember, you register your party affiliation based on the last election.”

That was 2014, which was when Kasich was re-elected governor, and non-presidential years tend to be bigger for Republicans. And Husted says even though it may have felt like a general election today, he doesn’t expect this will be a record turnout even for a primary.

Annie Wu is the deputy editor of digital content for Ideastream Public Media.