Presidential politics heads to Hawaii early next year as Democrats and Republicans hold caucuses to support candidates from the major parties.
It is too bad that Hawaii doesn’t incorporate a formal presidential primary in the election schedule, but at least both parties hold a selection process.
Because Hawaii does not hold presidential primaries, the state party preference polls are the only opportu- nities Hawaii voters have to get in on the national act before the actual presidential voting.
Republicans are the party out of office, so they have a crowded field of candidates. For the Hawaii race, former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley already have signed up for the GOP Hawaii caucus.
The contest will be held March 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. at locations to be announced.
It is only in-person voting — no mail-in ballots and one has to be a registered Republican to vote. Voters can register at the meeting.
The contest is in comparison to four years ago, when the local GOP had only one candidate, Trump, who had formally filed for the primary. So the contest was canceled and Trump was essentially declared the choice of Hawaii Republicans.
As mentioned, the primary party preference polls are the only chance Hawaii voters have to pick among presidential candidates running on the Republican or Democratic party tickets.
Specifically, the GOP race is to become a delegate to the national convention, which will be held July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wis.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is running for reelection, so there is no viable opponent and he will be nominated at the Democratic convention to be held Aug. 19-22, in Chicago.
The Democrats’ plan calls for selecting delegates to the national convention, which then will pick the presidential candidate. It is a model in confusion and complexity, so to keep it simple, just consider that unless something happens to him, Biden will be the Democrats’ candidate — although also running are U.S. House representative from Minnesota Dean Phillips, and author Marianne Williamson, who ran unsuccessfully in 2020.
The formal Hawaii presidential preference primary will be by mail-in balloting, starting March 5 with walk-in voting on March 6.
And on Nov. 5, 2024, the votes from all 50 states and voters overseas will be counted in what is shaping up to be a crucial test for American democracy.
