At Hilo High School, caucus participants jammed the overheated cafeteria while precinct leaders bellowed out the names of registered participants.

Kevin Hopkins, who stood at the door directing participants to the areas of the cafeteria designated for their precincts, advised latecomers to "just squeeze in as best you can." He said he had no idea how many hundreds of people were packed into the room.

One activist pressed against the window of the cafeteria turned to a companion in wide-eyed astonishment, shaking his head. "I have never attended a caucus that had more than 20 people," he said.

Hilo retiree Mildred Murakami emerged from voting in her first caucus ever at about 7:30 p.m. to rest on a bench.

"It was such an interesting race, I wanted to be involved," she said. "It was pretty chaotic."

Hilo resident Marie Okutsu, an Obama supporter, said she was initially sent to the wrong caucus site, and waited patiently to vote until almost 8 p.m. Then, she was sent to Hilo High. Once there, "I had to make a fuss about it, but I got to vote."

Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, a party activist for 40 years, joked that at that point in an ordinary caucus year, a handful of Democrat diehards would be at caucus sites using their cell phones to coax other party members in to vote because there weren't enough people to organize.

"This year, I have had people stop me at the supermarket ... asking, 'Where do I go?' "