The 2020 Hawaii Democratic presidential primary had been scheduled to take place on April 4, 2020, a Saturday, in the Democratic Party primaries for the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, but in-person voting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mail-in voting was extended to May 22, 2020. Instead, voters had until May 22 to submit mail-in ballots. The Hawaii primary was a closed party-run primary, awarding 33 delegates to the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

, of which 24 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Voters cast

ranked-choice voting Ranked-choice voting may be used as a synonym for: * Ranked voting, a term used for any voting system in which voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference * Instant-runoff voting (IRV), a specific ranked voting system with single-w ...

ballots, with a voter's ballot counting for two ranked backup choices if their original choice was in last place and below the 15 percent threshold for winning delegates. Former vice president and presumptive nominee Joe Biden won the primary, taking around 61% of the vote and 16 delegates after the distribution of preferences compared to senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

' 37% and 8 delegates. On the count of first choices, Biden and Sanders had taken approximately 56% and 31% of the vote, while 13% were spread between eight other candidates who had withdrawn from the race, notably senator Elizabeth Warren with 5% and representative Tulsi Gabbard with 4%. On the final count a rather large amount of 4% of the votes were inactive, as they did not include a choice for one of the two candidates that had overcome the 15 percent hurdle.

Procedure

Hawaii had been scheduled to hold its primary on April 4, 2020, along with the Alaska and Louisiana primaries and Wyoming caucuses on the same day, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the state party decided on March 27, 2020 that all voting had to occur by mail instead and that ballots received by May 22 would be counted.. The

Hawaii Democratic Party The Democratic Party of Hawaii ( haw, ʻAoʻao Demokalaka o Hawaiʻi) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Hawaii. The party is a centralized organization established to promote the party platform as drafted in convention b ...

's draft delegate selection plan published on March 25, 2019, had called for a shift away from caucuses as in previous years to a party-run primary, also known as a

firehouse primary {{Short description, Election run by a political party to select a candidate or nominee for a later general election A firehouse primary, also called a firehouse caucus or "unassembled caucus", is a term sometimes used in the United States to descri ...

or officially a "presidential preference poll", with a limited

system allowing voters to select their top three choices. Mail-in ballots would have been accepted from March 3 to March 28, 2020. Voting with paper ballots originally was to take place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m on a Saturday. Candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 22 pledged delegates to the

were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, 7 and 8 were allocated to the two

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

, respectively, and another 3 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 6 at-large delegates. Originally planned with 22 delegates, the final number included a 10% bonus of 2 additional delegates on the 14 district and 5 at-large delegates by the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

due to the original April date, which belonged to Stage II on the primary timetable. Before the primary, precinct meetings were held on March 4, 2020, to choose delegates for the state convention. As the state convention, planned for May 23 to May 24, was postponed until September, the state convention delegates voted on national convention district delegates online on June 8, while the state central committee voted on the at-large and pledged PLEO delegates online on June 13. The delegation also included 9 unpledged PLEO delegates: 4 members of the

, 4 members of Congress (both senators and all two representatives), and the governor David Ige.

Candidates

The following individuals appeared on the ballot in Hawaii: Running * Joe Biden Withdrawn *

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

* Tulsi Gabbard *

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

* Tom Steyer * Elizabeth Warren * Andrew Yang

Michael Bennet Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed t ...

, John Delaney and Kamala Harris also qualified but withdrew early enough to be taken off the ballot. There was also an uncommited option.

Results

The primary was conducted by ranked-choice voting. Voters were instructed to mark their top three choices on paper ballots. Any voter with a first choice other than Biden or Sanders had their ballot count in the final round if ranking one of those candidates as a second or third choice.

Vote count by round

The ballots were counted separately in each of Hawaii's two Congressional districts.

References

External links

The Green Papers delegate allocation summaryHawaii Democratic Party delegate selection plan
Democratic Party of Kauai. {{2020 Democratic primaries Hawaii Democratic Democratic primary

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Hawaii Democratic