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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 1, 2008

Democrats delay caucus recount

 •  Hawaii Democratic Caucuses 2008

Associated Press

The Democratic Party of Hawai'i said it will postpone by one week a recount scheduled for this weekend of the ballots cast during the party's presidential caucuses.

The party had planned to use the recount to generate a certified final tally of the vote that gave Hawai'i-born Barack Obama a convincing win over Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The tally announced on the night of the caucus, Feb. 19, said Obama had 28,347 votes to Clinton's 8,835.

But party chairwoman Jeani Withington says the large volume of information to be processed has forced officials to postpone the recount. The results will be announced March 8.

A record number of voters showed up to caucus Feb. 19, casting more than 37,500 ballots. Many polling sites ran out of ballots and had voters write their choice on slips of paper. Before Feb. 19, Hawai'i Democratic caucus turnout had never exceeded 5,000.

Obama won an estimated 14 Hawai'i delegates to the Democratic National Convention versus Clinton's six, but those numbers could change pending the results of the recount.