Hawaii Democratic Caucus

[Menehune Man]

I traded days off with my coworker in order to have Tuesday night, 2/19/08 off.

Here's a link to Oahu info...
http://www.oahudemocrats.org/

[glossyp]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Tonight!

Bumping this up.

Is anyone besides Lei Liko going to the caucus tonight? Post observations, photos, etc. here if you do!

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Tonight!

Bumping this up.

Is anyone besides Lei Liko going to the caucus tonight? Post observations, photos, etc. here if you do!

I am! I expect it to be nuts. I'll see what I can post later. I'll be at Koko Head School.

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

We're going to participate tonight. I feel somewhat uncomfortable signing up to be an official Democratic party member, but if the party system is the way democracy works, we'll play along. Frankly I'm just curious about the process, as I've never been curious or interested enough to give it more than a passing glance. I'll Twitter and post iPhone photos as I go!

[Lei Liko]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Tonight!

Bumping this up.

Is anyone besides Lei Liko going to the caucus tonight? Post observations, photos, etc. here if you do!

My polling place is Moanalua High School. I've never been on campus before, so like a true nerd I went on their website and printed a copy of the campus map so I know where to park and where the cafeteria is.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

They opened the doors a little early here because the line's crazy long.

Parking's been an issue here.

The line's moving along now!

[sansei]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

hi this is sansei and since i dont trust Clinton or Obama,i wouldnt vote for them and if they had a Cacaus for Mccain,i'd only vote for him is he would Veto Akaka's Bill so This is One reason i'd trust only Mccain.

Well thank's for your time

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

I just got back from voting at the Koko Head School site. My estimate is that there were more than 1,500 people there. The cafeteria was full and the lines went all the way down the driveway and up the breezeway.
For those of us already registered with the party, it wasn't that difficult to sign in and vote. But they had run out of Blue Cards for new recruits, so I know there were a lot of people disappointed with having to wait to get them. Who knows if Blue Cards will make it out to Hawaii Kai tonight? I know some of Dan Inouye's staffers live out here, hope that helps!
I was happy to run into HPD's Bill Kato who helped me find my district table so we could vote.
Henry Kaiahue, who lives nearby, just acquired an Obama bumper sticker for his Jeep, no doubt. Daniel Dae Kim was playing with babies. Greg Knudsen and his wife Karen said they were amazed at the turnout. AJ Halagao was probably wondering where all these Democrats were last year when he was running against Rep. Gene Ward! Miss Lisa from The Movement Center was at ease with the big crowd, since she's used to putting on really big shoes/shows herself.

If the generally GOP-centric Hawaii Kai area is going nutso at the Democratic Caucus tonight, imagine the heavily Democratic areas of Hawaii?

Are there enough Blue Cards to go around the state tonight? Imagine what the turnout and the vote COULD have been!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

I'd forgotten about it, but I actually am a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. Now, if I could just find that darned card.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

I'd forgotten about it, but I actually am a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. Now, if I could just find that darned card.

I voted without my card. It's mayhem. I filed out a form with my name/city/zip/address/email and then I got my ballot, which I filled, folded in half and returned.

[Kelly0040]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

I just got back from the Ewa Beach caucus (dist 42/43).

I'm glad I went tonight! I probably will never live in a state that uses the caucus system for their primaries again and it was kinda fun. We showed up around 6:10 and the line was already out the door. They ran out of the blue democratic registration cards and were trying to print out the form online to hand out to folks. By the time we got to the desk to hand in our card, it was 7:00 and we slipped in the door, signed our district/precinct sign-in sheet and we were off! Granted, all I had to do was mark a small piece of paper, but they asked if I wanted to be a delegate and I was like omgggg ok! but our precinct only needed 1 and it had its 1 (not to mention, I wouldnt be able to go anyway, but just the thought that I coulda been one is pretty cool). I noticed there was a sign on the clock that said "polls close at 8pm" and I was like nooo way they gonna get all those people done by 8. We were done by 7:30pm and as we walked out, the line had grown soooo long - wayyy way way way out the door and down the street.

I saw very few Clinton supporters, but a ton of Obama supporters. It was really apparent that the volunteers were overwhelmed by the numbers of folks arriving. It was really cool to see everyone come out.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

Moanalua HS was the site for all Democrats in the Lower Moanalua - Salt Lake - Aliamanu area tonight, and it really did feel like all of Lower Moanalua - Salt Lake - Aliamanu was there.

I got there at about 6:15 and already parking was scarce. I lucked out and found a spot right near the cafeteria. A lot of people parked in the makai lot, unaware that there was a lot closer to the polling area. Good thing I had my printed map!

The line moved smoothly along at first because a lot of people were already registered for the party. I turned in my party registration a few weeks ago, but I had to fill out a blue card because my name wasn't on the list. There were a few people who came to the wrong polling area, but they had a lot of volunteers with District maps. If your street didn't fall within the highlighted yellow area, you were in the wrong place.

I was very disappointed with the check in area. Surely, with the amount of new voters joining the party, they'd have more staffers checking in the New Democrats. We had TWO. One of whom didn't know WTH she was doing. Hello? I already gave you my completed blue card. Why the heck are you giving me another sheet (asking for the SAME INFO) to fill out? The registered guys had it easy, and breezed through to their Alpha Letter line. I gotta give props to the staffer who actually knew what he was doing with the New Democrats. He was very patient with her and all those waiting.

I also want to add that Representative Glenn Wakai was there, and he was kind enough to provide dinner and drinks for those who got there early enough. I didn't eat, but it looked like Garlic Chicken, salad, and rice. Way to score brownie points, I say.

Seating was an issue when I got in at 6:30. Though the room was quite large, most people were cramped towards the back of the room (near the registration desks). Though not squished like sardines, it was pretty close. Everyone stuck together because they wanted to be able to hear what the Precinct Chair had to say.

7:00 came...and nothing. At 7:11, the District lady said that they weren't going to start until everyone was inside, checked in, and seated at their respective precincts. Lots of groans. Even more people pissed off. The guy sitting next to me said it best: "It could be worse. We could be in Wisconsin freezing our asses off." He was a great guy to talk story with, and he shared with me stories of caucuses since the 60s. That's how long he's been coming to these. At last election's caucus, there were only 9 people who showed up for our precinct. While our numbers were nowhere near lavagal's district, I'd say there was an easy 500-600 there, probably more. No celebrities, though.

They had lots of blue cards, but ran out of attendance sheets and ballots. Yellow tablet notepads became attendance sheets...and oh look! Those tablets were torn up and became ballot slips too! You do what you can with what you have.

By 7:30, I don't know who gave the order, but our Precinct Chair was the first to yell out instructions for casting your vote. The official ballot slips contained names of the candidates (Obama, Clinton, Kucinich, Edwards) and a box for those Uncommitted. Those of us with the blank yellows had to write our choice candidate's name.

The precinct chair asked for volunteers to count ballots and started to talk about stuff about electing delegates, etc. etc. but everyone just wanted out of there...FAST. The other four precincts were wondering WTF was going on and how come they didn't start collecting ballots yet and more got pissed off.

I submitted my yellow sheet to the chair, who placed it in an envelope, and I checked off my name on the attendance sheet. Mind you, this is a NICE description of how it was for me. It was utter pandemonium just getting out of there. When I did, the line was still halfway to the parking lot. There was NWIH polling was going to be done at 8PM.

Chaotic and disorganized are two words I'd use to describe my experience. Most of the volunteers knew what they were doing, but there were very many who did not. Still, I have to give credit to all of them because I don't think anyone expected a turnout like tonight, all this despite the numbers they've been predicting. If other, more populated polling places were having issues like mine did, I wouldn't be surprised if those poor voters are still there.

I'd do it again, and I'm very glad I went.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

Lei Liko, I have to agree with you regarding the volunteers. Many didn't know what they were doing. Most were very earnest about what they were doing. I would have volunteered if I didn't have kids to look after, and I know I wouldn't have really had a handle on what I could do or how I could accommodate the demands! And it is funny that the party knew it was going to be an amazingly overwhelming night. For that reason, I think many citizens took it all in stride. It wasn't like we were going to lose our shirts over it. it wasn't like we were voting in Pakistan or Kosovo or Florida for gawd sake (Florida chads is the joke there). We're in Hawaii and we get a chance to kick some political butt! It was amazing to see all the dems come out of the Hawaii Kai Koa woodwork!I wonder if the grass at Koko Head School will ever recover!?

[scrivener]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

You Democrats and grass. Some things just don't change, man.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info

You Democrats and grass. Some things just don't change, man.

Huh? Wha? Peace, Man. I'm sensing an acid rock music session accompanying my 24HF workout tomorrow!!!