In Manoa, everyone seemed to be having a fun time. Neighbors greeted neighbors. It was like a huge block party! Even though the lines were long, spirits were high. I was struck by how casual the voting process was. In contrast to the strict polling places with curtains, this voting consisted of checking a box on a small piece of paper and handing it back to the guy in charge, who looked at (and other people in the crowd could look at it), folded it and stuck it in a crammed manila envelope! I guess it will be counted. No machines, no computers..just that. Like voting for the president of your first-grade class! I was half-expecting a show of hands. Democracy at its most basic. Fascinating experience for political junkies.

Hawaii Kai was nuts! People were maniacs looking for parking at Koko Head Elem...

I was excited to see the amazing turn out in Aiea. However as a young democrat I was interested in represented my precinct as a delegate and getting further involved in the process. Yet I was told to go home and that the local delegates would be decided at a later date. Now it seems I was robbed of the chance to participate.

Wahiawa was just like everywhere else it seems - overwhelmed with a turnout that no one saw coming. However, I am pleased to say that due to the hard work of the volunteers, members of the Wahiawa Neighborhood Board, and our area politicians, the process ran rather smoothly.

It was not perfect by a long shot, as the staff was inundated with a long line of eager voters and supplies dwindled. But for the most part, the voting public was courteous and eager to cast their ballot.

Interestingly, according to the final tally, there were no undecided ballots, and all votes went to either Obama or Clinton and to no one else. I thought that was intriguing.

tonight was an experience for me, being my first caucus. when i arrived it was excitement seeing all the news stations and CNN. standing in line wasn't bad at all since i got to kawananakoa early enough (5:40 pm). it was when they opened the doors...that's when the chaos hit. what made it worst was that the cafeteria was stuffy with people jam packed like sardines trying to confirm their registration and receive a name tag. i didn't know what to expect as i was told to go to the table with your designated district and precinct number posted. i stood there patiently and wondered, "now what?" it's just about 7:00, where are we now suppose to vote? in talking to an experienced caucus goer in my district, she explained that the ballots were in this black briefcase that belonged to the leader of our pack. i was very surprised that the ballots were in a manila envelope that was casually passed out. ballot???? it was a little piece of paper that somebody had to manually print, copy and cut. i made my "X", then gave it back to our leader as he stuffed it back into the manila envelope. is this how the mainland caucuses operate? i'm sure it's much less chaotic and a lot more formal. i think the hawaii democratic party should take some lessons from the mainland. i am just glad i did my duty tonight. just patiently waiting for the results...

It was nice to be a part of something so epic as having a keiki o ka aina be in position to be the next president of the United States. Things could have ran a lot smoother, but the excitement of the event was far more meaningful. I haven't seen Waianae in such a buzz in some time. Everyone was very cordial.

This is what I emailed to a friend on my caucas experience:

I don't know your experienece with caucasing but.... Manoa was just C-R-A-Z-Y !!! First off, the district map was placed under a pillar under a burnt out light outside the cafeteria. People were using their cell phone light to try to find their district. We finally moved it to the other side of the pillar where there was a light. To imagine for over a couple of hours, these Manoa-ites couldn't figure this out. m-m-m-m

The six or more lines were long AND they were standing in the dark. At the end, sat volunteers, in the dark, mind you, having the people who haven't signed up as Demos, to fill out the card IN THE DARK!!! Then they were suppose to find which door to enter of their district at the different entrances in the cafeteria, however, inside the cafeteria, there was a mad house of misinformed voters not knowing where to go to sign-in and vote. People were confused, angry and some yelling going on in there let me tell you.

As for us? After helping to change the district map, my friend found out our district, however, he still had to register. Instead of going to the back of the line, he just went up to one of the registration tables in the dark and ask politely if he could have an application to fill out later. -ha We borrowed a pen and sat far away so that he could fill it out. He was suppose to return it to the registration table, however, we went inside to our supposed district area to sign-in and vote. When we went in, I asked this volunteer where our district area was. She immediately yelled at us that we needed to get out! I reacted like a typical pake and yelled back. 'Hey, you don't have to get angry with me. We're just asking were our district area is. You don't have to transfer your anger to us!!!' She immediately was stunned by my forceful reaction and somewhat loud pake voice. Yes, it did attract some attention, but it was already loud in there.

So, we finally got to our area and waited. There wasn't any sign-in sheets and ballots. We finally got it and signed in and finally got some ballots and voted. After all that, my friend went up to one of the registration tables and told her that he's turning his registration card in cuz he had to fill it out in the light. She took it and we were out of there within the hour, while others were still standing in lines in the dark and the commotion inside the cafeteria was still loudly buzzing.

As we were leaving, a volunteer on the bullhorn shouted new instructions, "You don't have to put your district number on the ballot. Just sign-in, vote and give your ballot to the ballot collections volunteer."

How was your caucas experience?

Responsible,

I found your story about Manoa last night hilarious -- thanks for sharing your account with us.

Well I have read the comment of one young guy democrat from Aiea, he is just like me I am very interested to be a delegate to the state convention to represent my district but i just decided to go home becuase i was not sure if that night was the time to select the delegate, somoene told me its finished already and the other volunter told me at a later time, i got confused further more i hope no one cast their ballots twice since i end up getting two ballots but i only submitted one, i took home the other one and discardded already, people just go inside and cast ballots, they dont checked ID's stuff like that. chaos around the caucus room, people getting frustrated with the lines and , cunfusions happens all over.