HONOLULU – Democratic Party of Hawaii Interim Chair Kate Stanley has announced the list of candidates who will appear on the ballot of Hawaii’s Party-run Presidential Primary. All of the candidates filed paperwork prior to the deadline of January 22 at 5 p.m. Hawaii Time. In-person voting takes place on April 4 and results will be announced that day.
For the first time, Democratic Party of Hawaii’s Party-run Presidential Primary will be conducted by mail-in balloting, which provides party member residents the chance to send in their ballots.
To vote in the democratic primary, individuals must be registered voters with the State of Hawaii and members of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and be 18-years-old by the General Election on November 3, 2020.
To get registered with the Democratic Party of Hawaii, register to vote online with the State of Hawaii, and enroll as a party member on the Democratic Party of Hawaii website.
To receive an early ballot in the mail, the deadline to register to vote and enroll in the party is February 18. The final deadline to receive a ballot in the mail is March 8.
In-person voting & same day registration options will be provided on April 4 on each island from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“This year’s Presidential election is critical, and Hawaii Democratic voters will have an important role to play in selecting the party’s national nominee,” said Stanley.“Mail-in voting will make it easier than ever to participate, and we expect an unprecedented number of voters to return ballots.”
The candidates are:
• Michael Bennet
• Joe Biden
• Michael Bloomberg
• Pete Buttigieg
• John Delaney
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Amy Klobuchar
• Deval Patrick
• Bernie Sanders
• Tom Steyer
• Elizabeth Warren
• Andrew Yang
One additional campaign, Kamala Harris, filed paperwork to appear on the ballot but later asked that her name be withdrawn.
Voting will be conducted with ranked choice ballots, allowing voters to list their preferred candidates from 1 to 3. Each ballot will only count for one candidate, but rankings will allow voters whose first-choice candidate is below the 15% threshold to have their subsequent candidate be tallied. This provides mail-in voters the most similar experience to what takes place at a traditional caucus when their first choice is not viable.
In order to receive a delegate from Hawaii to the Democratic National Convention, a presidential candidate must receive 15% of the total count within a Congressional District.
Democratic National Convention delegates who are pledged to those candidates will be selected at the Democratic Party of Hawaii State Convention to be held May 23 and 24, 2020 at the Sheraton Waikiki.
Delegate Elections Separately, the Democratic Party of Hawaii Precinct, District, County and State Conventions Delegate Elections will take place on March 4, 2020, at locations around the state.
Under the former in-person caucus system, 33,716 ballots were cast in the 2016 Hawaii’s Presidential Preference Poll. Bernie Sanders received 70 percent with 25,530 votes. Hillary Clinton received 30 percent with 10,125 votes. Based on those totals, 17 delegates were awarded to Sanders and 8 to Clinton.
