2020 Hawaii Democratic presidential primary

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33 delegates (24 pledged, 9 unpledged) to theDemocratic National Convention The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
Candidate Joe Biden Bernie Sanders (withdrawn) Home state Delaware Vermont Delegate count 16 8 First round 19,593 (55.9%) 10,777 (30.8%) Final round 21,215 (60.54%) 12,337 (35.20%)
Election results by county   Joe Biden

The2020 Hawaii Democratic presidential primary had been scheduled to take place on April 4, 2020, a Saturday, in theDemocratic Party primaries for the2020 presidential election, but in-person voting was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and mail-in voting was extended to May 22, 2020. Instead, voters had until May 22 to submit mail-in ballots.^[1] TheHawaii primary was a closedparty-run primary, awarding 33delegates to the2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 24 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Voters castranked-choice voting 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 nomineeJoe Biden won the primary, taking around 61% of the vote and 16 delegates after the distribution of preferences compared to senatorBernie Sanders' 35% 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Sanders had taken approximately 56% and 31% of the vote, while 13% were spread between eight other candidates who had withdrawn from the race, notably senatorElizabeth Warren with 5% and representativeTulsi Gabbard with 4%.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.

Hawaii had been scheduled to hold its primary on April 4, 2020, along with theAlaska andLouisiana primaries andWyoming 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.^[2] TheHawaii Democratic Party'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 afirehouse primary or officially a "presidential preference poll", with a limitedranked-choice voting system allowing voters to select their top three choices. Mail-in ballots would have been accepted from March 3 to March 28, 2020.^[3]

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 the2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, 7 and 8 were allocated to the twocongressional districts, respectively, and another 3 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 6 at-large delegates.^[4] 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 theDemocratic National Committee due to the original April date, which belonged to Stage II on the primary timetable.^[5]

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,^[6][7] 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 theDemocratic National Committee, 4 members of Congress (both senators and all two representatives), and the governorDavid Ige.^[4]

The following individuals appeared on the ballot in Hawaii:^[8]

Running

• Joe Biden

Withdrawn

Michael Bennet,John Delaney andKamala Harris also qualified but withdrew early enough to be taken off the ballot. There was also an uncommitted option.

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.

The ballots were counted separately in each of Hawaii's two Congressional districts.^[10]

• The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
• Hawaii Democratic Party delegate selection plan^{[permanent dead link]}
• 2020 Hawai’i Democratic Presidential Primary Voters Guide, Democratic Party of Kauai.

• 2020 United States Democratic presidential primaries by state
• 2020 Hawaii elections
• Hawaii Democratic primaries
• Elections postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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