Obama Everywhere at Hawaii Democratic Presidential Caucus in Haleiwa

HALEIWA, Hawaii -- The North Shore of Oahu was in full force tonight, representing the Democratic Party with the largest turnout the community has ever seen. Doors opened at the Haleiwa Elementary School, precinct 46, at 6 p.m. Hawaii time. The precinct covers the towns of Haleiwa, Waialua, Sunset Beach, and Laie.

Being that this was my first time voting, I really didn't know what to expect. Upon my arrival at 6:05, there were helpful volunteers, snacks outside the cafeteria, with a long line of voters waiting to get in the cafeteria. Voters were advised to sign both a Democratic membership form and voter registration form before entering the cafeteria. People of all ages, ethnicities, and social economic status could be seen in the line waiting to get in. Obama supporters were in full effect with signs, t-shirts and stickers on their clothing. The Clinton supporters must have been elsewhere tonight. I honestly saw only 2 women holding signs for Hillary Clinton.

At 6:30, I finally entered the cafeteria that was almost at full capacity with a long line of voters behind me still trying to get in. By 6:45, the building was completely filled, and the line outside grew much longer. As voters submitted their ballots and left, there was still a line of people wrapped around the side of the cafeteria waiting to cast their vote at 7:45.

Voting began at 7. There was one announcement from the precinct coordinator with three instructions: For each town to see their chairman to fill out an attendance form, select your candidate on the ballot and hand it in -- and where the bathrooms were located. After that, everyone rushed the assigned chairmen and chaos began. This was partly due to the fact that during the announcement, it was difficult to hear what the coordinator was saying because of the large crowd and lots of talking.

The other reason was because the chairmen of each town did not have their attendance forms signed by the their voters prior to 7 and did not have enough ballots to begin with. Voters were very confused looking for the attendance forms in the midst of several other forms for the Denver convention, delegate elections, and volunteer sign ups.Once the attendance forms were found and signed, the chairmen then realized that more ballots were needed.

The precinct coordinator stated that he did not expect to see that many people. He reassured the voters that he would not close the precinct until everyone outside was able to cast their vote. Other voters that I talked to confirmed that they had never seen this many people. A lot of the voters were first timers like me. I felt a little embarrassed being that I am 31 and voting for the first time. However, I saw my old high school teacher there waiting to vote, she is in her 50's and was voting for the first time. Local news stations reported that it was chaos everywhere around the state with such a large voter turnout and last-minute voter registering at the precincts.

Was my first chaos filled experience of voting with worth it? Will I do it again? Being that I was able to put my 2 cents in for Barack Obama,.... You bet!!!