Gearing up for the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, political voices were heard Tuesday during Minnesota’s precinct caucuses.

Locally, Republicans gathered at Falls High School and DFLers at Rainy River Community College, as well as other locations in Northome, Big Falls, Littlefork and Birchdale to participate in the caucuses.

More than 100 people turned out for the GOP caucus with about 40 for the DFL Party gathering.

The GOP focused on the presidential race, while the DFL concentrated on the 8th Congressional District race.

At the GOP caucus, local Republicans cast the most votes for Ron Paul, receiving 36 votes in the presidential straw poll, followed by Rick Santorum with 31 votes, Newt Gingrich with 21 votes and Mitt Romney with 11.

At the DFL precinct caucus, the straw poll results came out in favor of Rick Nolan for 8th Congressional District representative, a position now held by Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack.

According to Joe Boyle, chairman of the Koochiching County DFL , a total of 51 votes were cast with 39 votes in favor of Nolan, four for Jeff Anderson, one vote for Tarryl Clark, and seven voters were undecided.

“There is usually a larger turnout when there’s a presidential competition,” Boyle said of DFL caucus turnout. “Although we do have competition for the congressional race, the race is still in its early stages.”

Boyle noted that he was, however, pleased with Tuesday’s turnout and was “glad to see people come out and speak their voice.”

Across the field at Falls High School, discussions were held about Republican party platform issues as well as individual testimonies and speeches about which presidential candidate should be endorsed.

“It’s an agitated group of motivated people, coming out on a cold February night, walking across the icy parking lot to be here tonight,” said Terry Stone, chairman of the Koochiching County GOP and executive of the GOP’s 8th Congressional District. “I’m mighty proud of every one of them.”

It was unanimously passed by the DFL group to support the reelection of President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Tom Saxhaug and Rep. Tom Anzelc.

Several DFL residents voiced praise for the incumbents, including Falls City Councilor Cynthia Jaksa.

“(Obama) has accomplished many things including being successful in passing the affordable health care act,” she said. “I think Obama is a miracle worker.”

Stone said that the presidential endorsement of Paul should be accepted as “the will of the people.”

“The people will speak, that’s never any problem — that’s what being a Republican is all about: listening to the voice of the people and accepting that,” he said. “We need to make sure it’s the voice of the people that’s heard, not a political machine.”

The confusion and chaos during the precinct caucuses was “as little as you can expect with amateur politicians,” he said, referring to the participants.

“This is entry-level politics at it’s most exciting,” Stone said.

Stone added that the straw poll from caucuses in general are not always representative of “your average voter.”

“It’s generally known that a person who puts down their TV remote on a Tuesday night, starts their car, usually during below-zero temperatures, and comes to caucus and meets with strangers, is not your normal, average patriot. That is a very motivated person,” he said. “So our results will always be a little more right of the center than the typical Republican vote.”

In other action with the DFLers, a number of resolutions were passed, including not requiring photo identification to be presented to vote and restricting the power of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its decision making concerning roads and highway construction.