A lot of unhappy people were disenfranchised by the Hawaii Democratic Party's poor organization of the March 26 Presidential Caucus.
Its time for Hawaii to adopt a State-run Presidential Primary election with Party preference voter registration.
Here's what the voters had to say....
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"This was not democracy at work. It was chaos and a farce."
HNN: …Social media users said their precincts ran out of ballots. Hawaii News Now also received reports of voters arriving at their precincts about 3 p.m. to find they had already closed. (Voting began at 1 p.m., but there was no definitive time given for when polling places would close.)
Voter Koa Ulu said he and about a dozen other people were turned away from the precinct at Nanakuli High School about 3:30 p.m. by party volunteers who said it was closed.
"The Democratic Party in Hawaii did a poor job in reaching out to Hawaii and informing the population," he said, in a Facebook message to Hawaii News Now.
Charlene Hosenfeld, of Kailua, called the voting at Kailua Intermediate School "chaos."
"There were throngs of people, no direction, no one seemed to be in charge, ballots were handed out randomly," she said, in an email to Hawaii News Now. "This was not democracy at work. It was chaos and a farce." …
read … Farce
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Hawaii Democrats confusion, frustration
SA: Voting ended at 2:30 p.m. at Manoa Elementary School, which prevented Dr. Danelo Canete and his wife from voting. Canete, a Clinton supporter, said his son voted earlier in the afternoon, and reported that there were lines at the school. So, Canete and his wife decided to wait for a while to allow the lines to go down. When they reached the school at 2:34, they were told the voting was finished.
“There were a whole bunch of people who were very upset,” Canete said. “We were all kind of shaking our heads, like what happened?”
He said about a dozen people were told they could not vote at the school. “Nobody had put down a closing time, so we just thought we’d show up like good citizens and vote,” he said.
Ron Fitzgerald, 50, said he was told he couldn’t vote when he arrived at Highlands Intermediate around 2:45 p.m. because the polls were closed an hour and 45 minutes after they opened.
But Fitzgerald and others were then allowed to cast a provisional ballot and Democratic party officials later will decide whether to count those ballots, a precinct official said.
Highlands Intermediate closed its polls around 2:20 and officials shut the doors to the cafeteria around 3:15.
“It was really frustrating,” said Fitzgerald, a teacher and Pacific Palisades resident.
Stephanie Ohigashi, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, said polls were kept open at half-hour intervals; if no one came in for half an hour, the poll closed.
As of 4:30 p.m., she was not aware of any polling places still open. Ohigashi said she did not know how many potential voters may have been turned away.
read … confusion, frustration
SA: “the lack of organization kind of made me embarrassed for the (Democratic) party.”
HTH: Hawaii County 6,000 votes for Sanders and about 1,600 votes for Clinton
MN: “There didn't seem to be anyone really in charge."
KGI: Voters were turned away and told to go to the Lihue Neighborhood Center
IQ: Potential Voter Fraud at Kailua Location
ILind: Hawaii’s Democratic Party caucus: “…surreal… ”
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Frustrated Voters: ‘Worst Planning Ever’ – ‘Trump 2016!’
Hawaii Democrats Facebook Comments March 26, 2016:
Theodora Kane Can't vote as our voting place closed early....very disappointed that there was no info on how long the polls would stay open. The Party lost four votes today!
Lyle Rœ People misunderstand that this isn't a primary. It's essentially a meeting. It was well advertised that polls closed after the last person in line had voted. It's why, even though they said voting starts at 1:00 PM, to be there by noon.
Frank Silva It shouldn't be that way, its very exclusive.
Lyle Rœ It's supposed to be. It's an inner-party decision. The primary is a party decision as to who the party wants to be ITS nominee for the general election. Otherwise, Republicans could claim to be Democrats and vote for the weakest candidate, and likewise with Democrats. It's restrictive for a purpose. Primaries and caucuses are designed for party members because it's a party decision.
Kimie Toma Shiira If you want people to vote, keep the polls open longer. Drove to Waikiki - Jefferson Elem school - Closed 4:30 pm . Did you explain that to the public that polls close early? Some people must work on Saturdays. Very frustrated. Plus I don't even live in Waikiki so why combine 2 precincts for Mccully side to Waikiki?
Torsten Adam Vaivai-Söderberg Democratic Party of Hawaii, my sister and her boyfriend showed up to their meeting location in Waikiki at 3:45pm and were turned away. They informed me there were around a hundred other voters who were also turned away by rude volunteers. Why weren't closing times posted anywhere? There are many frustrated Democrats in Hawaii who want answers.
Des Kalilikane Worst planning ever! Should have done it like the regular elections with more polling places and voting time....not just starting @ 1P. Our voting site was jammed packed before 12 noon. Parking was gone and I wasn't going to walk the 1/4 mile in the heat! Decided to come home, sit in the shade with the breeze and have an iced tea.....lost another 2 votes for the party!!
Mel McKeague Bernie is short 1 vote from Kapolei, Precinct 2. Already a registered voter and registered Democrat, I go to sign in at my Precinct. The first thing I notice is that there are people registering to vote (and join the party) in the same line that I'm waiting to sign in for. No worries - it's hot, it's humid, Hillary signs dominate the inside of the auditorium, but I eventually make my way to the front and sign in. It's 1 PM on the DOT! So I sit and wait with many others, when an announcement comes out that they're going to start handing out ballots. It's 1:05. 1:10, when I finally ask a volunteer where do I get my ballot? He said I had to go back into that line that I had already waited in. which was now an hour-wait longer - the line swelled. STUPID! Why don't they just hand out the ballots when people sign in? You mark that they got their ballot when they signed in - too simple! This ain't my first rodeo. I'm living in the same house that I lived in 50-years ago - before the H-1 was built. TRUMP 2016! I'll post a picture of my vote when I'm done.
Angelina Keighley I just voted at #25, at Kawananakoa Middle School is Honolulu. You lost votes due to the disorganization and poor planning. Unbelievable, unacceptable and inexcusable to set it up like this,.
You need to understand this. Many of us are disturbed that in an election as critically important as this one, the poor planning lost votes. It's not difficult to set it up to function so much better than this.
Some turned to leave when they saw the long lines, others were elderly or disabled and couldn't manage, others were late for work and had to leave. Is this 1960? The kids at the middle school could have come up with a better plan for lines, precincts, necessary information and a way to make this function. I was in line with a programmer and an engineer for hours. We made a sign for our table for Precinct #4, since nobody knew if it was the right line. Both laughed and said how easy it would be to make this work. Why can't we do this online or by mail? Why is a critical election held at 1 pm on a holiday weekend for one hour?
The point you need to understand is this: as I walked home after hours in various lines, I met a neighbor also walking home. He waited for over an hour in various lines and gave up and walked home. He didn't vote; he said it was "too confusing" and left. We can do better than this. Mahalo.
Jennifer Crites caucus at Kawananakoa school was an awful, disorganized mess. And don't blame the huge turnout. A few signs would have helped immeasurably. I wanted to run out screaming after the first 5 minutes. I was registered to vote AND I had signed up for the Dem party online weeks ago, but they didn't have me registered and I had to fill out all the paperwork there. Other people had the same problem. And there was a huge opportunity for fraud. Nobody checked your name off when you submitted your ballot, so people could have gotten extra ballots and voted several times. My friend picked up the ballots for me and my husband, and nobody checked names or districts then, either. Get your act together Democratic party.
Corinne Carson In my precinct, the Bernie voters were well informed and knew to show up to the caucus on time. Most of the people turned away for arriving late in my precinct were older folks, mostly older women, so I wouldn't say this confusion about how a caucus works was disenfranchising Bernie supporters. The Democratic Party needs to do a much better job of explaining how this "presidential preference poll" is different from a primary. So many people were turned away because the card sent in the mail was not clear.
Denise Van Ryzin This is horrible! Why is there 1 90+ year old woman with bad eyesight and heard of hearing checking us in. Been over an hour and folks are WALKING OUT.
James Kuloloio Crazy long line @ District 8. Very chaotic. Bad organizing. Not signed well. PA system barely loud enough to hear. Lines, within lines next to a different line. Wrong instructions given. Then I had to re-register again. Why? I don't know. My name came up on their device ok. Then when it eas time to get a ballot the the two handling it stood in the middle of the crowded aisle with every other precint instead of walking to each person seated in the designated area to ecxhange ticket for ballot. I saw the guy just giving ballots without first taking their ticket. While some precincts went smoothly. Precinct 5 was a complete and utter MESS! And to the volunteer with the red shirt who swore while children were near and yelled for everyone to shut up as well as calling people carpetbaggers as he laughed while trying to make himself look important shouldnt be allowed in that kind of environment.
Marcy Brinkley Pahoa High School was a mess. The few "signs" directing people to the voting area were handwritten in what appeared to be crayon. The closest parking lot to the voting area was blocked off and a (handwritten) sign saying to park on the other side of the building near the library was wrong - people trying to park there were told they'd be ticketed. For some reason, people attending an event at the church across the street were also using the school parking lot instead of the church lot so that made parking even worse. And what was the police officer doing instead of making sure that citizens could exercise their right to vote? He was ticketing cars parked in the unmarked spots closest to the voting area and directing the tow truck driver who was hauling one of those cars away.
Angelina Keighley So disappointing how the organizers failed voters all across the state.
Vickie Parker Kam WHY WERE THE POLLING PLACES CLOSED SO EARLY??? This is totally a bogus system, there were about 20 people there still and it was only 3:18 pm. The lady said they are only required to stay open from 1:00 to 1:30! Are you kidding? There were lots of cars in the lot and people outside milling around trying to find out why they could not vote. They were told to look up the number and leave a message - only no one answers the number nor is there a machine.... also the other number I found has a full message machine, probably because people are so angry and disgusted by this caucus system. This is totally bogus and there is NO WAY the Hawaii caucus numbers are legit...
Denise Van Ryzin WHY ARE YOUR VOLUNTEERS KICKING PEOPLE OUT OF LINE AND NOT ALLOWING PEOPLE TO VOTE????#fraud
Angelina Keighley The volunteers I met were as frustrated as everyone else. Poor planning.
Frank Silva Whoever was in charge of this needs to never be in charge of anything ever again.
Madeline Rodriguez Having us toss our ballots in a brown paper grocery sack doesn't seem to be the best idea.
Frank Silva A line within a line within a line a line within a line a line within a line a line within a line a line within a line a line within a line a line within a line.
Gary McKeague Kailua Intermediate Location Sucks!! we go there to vote and they closed it, wtf, how can ppl vote if they don't give a specific time of closing...the excuse was they rented it for only certain amount of time and the custodian has to go home...WTF!