ST. PAUL — Gov. Mark Dayton is backing the calls to swap out Minnesota’s presidential caucuses to a primary.

Heavy turnout at Tuesday’s voting swamped caucus sites across the state. It sparked just the latest push to use the more straight-forward primary process to select presidential nominees.

A Minnesota Republican says he’ll introduce a bill this year to move to a primary, saying the caucus format is confusing and limits turnout. Dayton said Thursday that’s the right move.

The Democratic governor says a primary will be easier and allow more voters into the election process.

Dayton’s support puts him in conflict with the chairman of Minnesota’s DFL party, who wants to keep the caucus format.