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Parties are bracing for as many as a quarter-million Utahns to gather Tuesday night to help pick a presidential candidate in what could be the first time in two decades that the Beehive State has factored into nominating contests.

"This is so good for the state to be a meaningful part of the process, given that in past years, other than fundraising trips, Utah has been completely ignored by the presidential candidates," said Chris Karpowitz, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University.

The Republican contest is splitting the GOP faithful, and, on the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., drew thousands of energized supporters to a pair of rallies, spurring leaders from both parties to expect record-shattering turnout.

Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans said the GOP is anticipating as many as 200,000 party members could vote in caucuses and — for the first time — online. Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon said his operation has printed 50,000 ballots and could have more ready if they're needed.

It's all a rarity for Utah, which typically holds its presidential contests much later in the primary season and becomes a foregone conclusion in the general election because it is so solidly Republican.

"It still is somewhat of a close race," Corroon said, "so if people come out and vote, they could make a difference in our presidential campaign, where oftentimes Democrats don't feel like they have a voice in Utah."

On the Republican side, said Evans, with Tuesday's nominating fights in Utah and Arizona the last on the GOP side until mid-April, the two states will set the narrative for the coming weeks.

"The results from the Utah caucuses and the Arizona primaries will reset the trajectory of these presidential candidates, depending on what the outcome is," Evans said.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump faces a barrage of opposition from the GOP establishment, including a scolding by Mitt Romney and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of negative ads run by anti-Trump political-action committees.

The aim is to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the GOP nomination before the party's national convention in July in Cleveland. Most projections estimate it will be close ­— a forecast Monday by the data-journalism site FiveThirtyEight.com said it could be decided by a few delegates either way.

So the question is: Can Texas Sen. Ted Cruz eclipse the 50 percent mark needed to win all 40 of Utah's GOP delegates, or will he fall short to have the delegates divided up based on the portion of votes each candidate gets? Cruz has secured the endorsements of Romney, Gov. Gary Herbert and Sen. Mike Lee; Trump has the support of state Senate Majority Leader Ralph Okerlund and House Speaker Greg Hughes; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has the backing of former Gov. Mike Leavitt and former Sen. Bob Bennett.

A poll released over the weekend by Y2 Analytics showed Trump a distant third in the field, but he said at a news conference Monday that he's not concerned.

"We'll do fine in Utah. It wasn't one of the states we were projected to win, but I had one speech there and it was massive. We actually turned away 5,000 people," Trump said. "I was really going out to Arizona, but I have a lot of friends in Utah. … I think I'll do very nicely."

Trump's estimate of the crowd size was disputed by news media covering the event.

On the Democratic side, Sanders has drawn thousands of enthusiastic supporters to his two Utah rallies and is expected to trounce Clinton in Utah. It is a must win for Sanders, as are most of the remaining caucuses, because Clinton holds a commanding lead ­— thanks to the Democrats' reliance on superdelegates who have lined up behind her.

If Sanders doesn't get the nomination, Corroon said the party hopes his supporters will stay active in the political process.

Karpowitz said it is hard to predict how robust turnout will be. On one hand, he said, Utahns seem to be generally dissatisfied with the options they have to choose from, but on the other, it is an election that matters.

And because caucuses are more time-consuming and unfamiliar to typical voters, the BYU political scientist said, they tend to bring out the more ideologically extreme on both sides, which often favors candidates who are less mainstream.

Democratic caucuses begin at 6 p.m.; Republicans gather at 7 p.m.

Interested residents from either party can find caucus locations at http://www.vote.utah.gov. Both parties require voters to bring identification. Only registered members of the Republican Party can participate in the GOP caucus, but voters can register and affiliate at those meetings. Republicans are also, for the first time, letting members of the party vote online for their presidential preference, but the required pre-registration window already has closed. Information on that process is available at http://www.utah.gop.

Twitter: @RobertGehrke