Donald Trump Wins South Dakota Republican Primary

To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump won the South Dakota Republican primary, CNN is projecting in what was essentially just a formality after he became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Any thoughts or hopes of a protest vote were quickly dashed soon after polls closed.

Trump, in a speech shortly after polls began to close across the country, read from a teleprompter and appeared more muted than usual. He took shots at the Clintons and trade, saying that he would give a much more in-depth speech about his presumptive general election opponent.

Original story below:

Donald Trump is basically already the Republican nominee for president. So in that sense, the South Dakota GOP primary doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

But South Dakota’s voters — and those in five other states on Tuesday — could still send a message that they reject Trump and the harsh rhetoric that he has unleashed on the campaign trail. And in that sense, the vote would be very significant.

Polls are open in South Dakota from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. South Dakota voters can find their polling place here. The Republican primary is open only to people who were registered under that party by May 23.

• Check back with Patch as soon as polls close for live South Dakota primary results.
• SEE ALSO: South Dakota Democratic Primary Results

If you want to get technical, Trump hasn’t totally clinched the number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Yet.

According to a delegate count from The Associated Press, he has 1,144 delegates who are required to vote for him and 95 unbound delegates who have said they will vote for him. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to win the nomination and Trump is currently just over that number, making the AP confident enough to call the race for him two weeks ago.

But winning 95 pledged delegates — leaving absolutely no room for error — should be a breeze for him when five states vote Tuesday. Especially with, you know, nobody effectively left in the race.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be anybody else on the ballot.

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich (remember those guys?) will still be there, should voters want to cast a vote for anybody but Trump. A sizable number of votes against Trump, after everyone else has effectively dropped out, would send a strong message to the Republican party.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons