Even though all 2,043 “provisional ballots” from across the islands have yet to be counted, billionaire businessman Donald Trump is still expected to win Hawaii’s Republican Party caucus.
Trump received more than 42 percent of the 13,377 votes that were counted following Tuesday night’s caucus and the outstanding provisional ballots should not change the outcome, said Andrew Walden, the GOP’s caucus chairman in Hawaii.
“I’ve looked at the proportionality and it would be unlikely that the proportionality’s going to change,” Walden said at Hawaii GOP headquarters on Kapiolani Boulevard.
Trump was followed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, with more than 32 percent; Florida’s U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio received more than 13 percent; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich took more than
10 percent.
The Republican Party allowed voters to cast so-called provisional ballots across the state Tuesday night at polling sites where they were not registered.
Republican officials hoped to have the Oahu count completed by Wednesday night and have all of the neighbor island provisional ballots tabulated by Friday, if not by today, Walden said.
Including the 2,043 provisional ballots that were cast, a total of 15,420 Republicans voted in Tuesday’s caucus — about a third more than the 10,228 Republicans who participated in the 2012 caucus.
“It’s because of Mr. Trump,” said Kimo Sutton, Trump’s Hawaii campaign representative, who was monitoring the provisional ballot count. “If you take away the Trump supporters, you’ve got the same amount as you did four years ago.”
Despite Tuesday night’s pounding wind and rain, Sutton said that “the Trump supporters wanted to be counted.”
And some 243 Leeward Coast Republicans voted by candle- and lantern-light Tuesday night when the power at Waianae Intermediate School went out from 4:30 p.m. to 7:20 p.m., Walden said. Until the lights came on, Walden said, “They were voting in the dark.”