Suspect is 'active registered voter' in North Carolina, Hawaii

by Alan Wooten, The Center Square Sep 16, 2024

(The Center Square) – Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of raising an assault-style rifle as former President Donald Trump played golf on Sunday in Florida, is registered to vote in North Carolina and Hawaii, The Center Square confirmed on Monday.

Routh, 58, voted in North Carolina’s Super Tuesday primaries in March. Rex Quidilla, elections administrator with the Office of the City Clerk for the city and county of Honolulu, told The Center Square in a telephone interview, “He is an active registered voter. He resides in District Precinct 48-01.”

Routh is the lone person arrested in Florida following the confrontation between a suspect and the U.S. Secret Service at Trump’s golf club.

According to the publicly available North Carolina State Board of Elections information, he also lives in Greensboro. Lawmen raided the home on Sunday night, according to published reports. Routh’s residence in Hawaii is in Kaaawa, a small community on the island of Oahu.

Voting records publicly available for Ryan Wesley Routh in the North Carolina State Board of Elections database show he voted a Democratic primary ballot on March 5, 2024.--VT.NCSBE.gov

In North Carolina, party affiliations can be chosen at time of registration, or a voter may choose unaffiliated, as Routh did. In Hawaii, Quidilla said elections boards do not collect party registrations.

“Our primaries are single party,” he said. “It is confidential selection of party ballot.”

Quidilla said it is not illegal to register to vote in more than one state. It is, he said, illegal to vote in more than one state.

“In Hawaii, you maintain active status if we don’t get return mail,” Quidilla said. “If a voter registration card is successfully received, in other words not bounced back to our office, that person maintains active registration.”

Quidilla said he was not allowed to say whether Routh participated in the Hawaii primaries on Aug. 10. Asked if his office is investigating, he confirmed it is not.

Hawaii does all voting by mail. North Carolina voters can request absentee-by-mail ballots, go to early in-person voting, or vote on Election Day.