What a clusterfark. Did you caucus in Hawaii on March 26, 2016?

[mahina]

Your story accompanied by suggestions for improving the process welcomed here.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Change to a primary. Let the people vote.

[mahina]

2. We need to elect precinct and district officers and delegates, and have always done so after the PPP

Maybe split the two events?

[mahina]

3. If we didn't let people register right up to the moment they walk in the door it would be easier

But less democratic.

[Control-Z]

4. As long as they are required

to vote the same party in the general. No switching back after their primary/caucus. vote.

[mahina]

5. That's not the case now but they can't vote in both R and D caucuses or primaries.

They are free to leave the party whenever they want to after the caucus.

[Wilms]

6. How is that gonna work??

[mahina]

11. We'll just move a minder in with them through Nov 7, and follow the into the voting booth.

Better bring some duct tape.

No problem!

I keed

[msongs]

7. I went to the one in Kaimuki/Kahala. It is a stupid system and was a wreck.

the sanders guy went around ripping down hillary signs (but not sanders signs) and was told to stop by the guy running the event. the limited time to vote was a mess. There was ton of "new" registrations but no checking ID to see if they were who they claimed. no cross checking possible to see if they were also registered as repubs.

The time of day and limited one hour vote period meant that many people would not be able to vote even if they wanted to (work, kids. etc)

Although the times were clearly mentioned in all media and promotion people still showed up 2 hours later and threw fits because they were not allowed to vote.

no matter who you supported it was not a well run thing.

It should be like a regular election event with a longer time period, a check in table like the regular election, and voting .
The whole schedule was to accomdate having precinct meetings afterwards I think and that should be a seperate event.

[mahina]

8. Agreed 100%

And that ripping down of signs action is really sad.

[SunSeeker]

9. Wow. Sounds like the Sanders supporters acted like bullies.

What a ridiculous way to choose a nominee.

[mahina]

12. Well, one.

He sounds like a donkey, and not the good kind.

I had a guy foaming at the mouth, literally, after the caucus. He was ranting about the Hillary people telling him he was supporting a communist, and that all the workers in the caucus were getting paid.

LOL

Gotta get that sweet sweet Democratic Party cash for running a caucus...rofl

I told him nobody was getting paid, not one person, and we even brought cupcakes and apples.
Dumbass.

My God, people get worked up.

[SunSeeker]

10. Go to a closed Dem only primary system that allows for mail-in ballots.

Open caucuses allow for ridiculous shenanigans, and suppresses the vote of any with a job or kids to take care of.

[PoiBoy]

13. We caucused here in Wailuku...

..a new elementary school, so a new location... no signs guiding the way and even google maps was a little confused... (or maybe it was me..) We got there around 2pm... the parking lot was full but that was because there was a gymnastics event going on at the same time...

There were about 30 people in the room.. the Bernie rep was very nice and everyone was quite friendly... Registration was quick and easy with our ID's, and I think we're on the voter registration rolls... they were in the process of beginning to shut down, but still accomodated anyone who showed up...

One thing that surprised me was the number of Republicans that were in attendance.. the girl who was greeting everyone, guiding us to the registration desk ran as an R against an incumbent D here a couple of years ago, and two of the three refreshment stations were manned by R's running for our "non-partisan" County Council race... ugh..! Trolling for votes wherever they can get em, I guess.

All I can suggest for the debacle that occurred was that the organizers should have set a definite end time. We all knew the polls would open at 1pm.. no one knew when the polls would close. Because the organizers said they were working on a limited budget and all volunteer staff, I think they should have scheduled a 4 hour time frame with a definite closing time, say 4pm. Not perfect, but it would have worked...

Re: closed primary... I think that it's a good thing... I may change my mind in the future, but I see great potential for Bernie's revolution in the closed primary process. You have to join the Party to vote and in joining the Party, we have the potential to change the way things are.

I think it has become very apparent that here in Hawaii many of our politicians are corporatists.. completely in the pocket of the big corporations. What happened with HB2501 today, the GMO scam, HECO and on and on, things need to change. And I'm hopeful that they can.

I'm pretty sure that there's a whole bunch of new Party members (like us) who, if informed and motivated can change the Party from within. I hope that we can get some type of organization mechanism off the ground to inspire all the new members to the Party to stick with it and affect change. This is where I believe Bernie's revolution starts.. the roots, if you will.

And while I'm on a roll with this post, let me also say that we are big fans of absentee voting. I think absentee voting should be made more accessible. I find having the ballot in hand three weeks out gives us the ability to research all the candidates and most importantly to research all the amendments and charter provisions that they add to the ballot. This IMO, is very, very important.

Damn... this is probably the longest post I've posted on DU in the over 12 years that I've been here.

Mahalo, Mahina for all you do...!!!

[mahina]

14. Mahalo Poi Boy, love the mana'o!

I completely concur re corporatists. They run as D because that's how to win, but they don't pay attention to our convention resos and rules. Fakas.

Kaniela Ing seems really genuine and guided by good values. The system is so corrupt, and we're always surprised when it gets to people. Here's hoping he can stay gold because I have a lot of aloha for the guy.

Agaran wouldn't allow emergency contraception for rape victims and that's when I got a feeling about him. Hope he's doing a good job for you guys. Thanks Neil. Sigh.

We have two bona fide skunks in my neighborhood.

Glad you had a pretty good experience. I love my absentee ballot in the generals- lets me volunteer.