 I'm Marcia Joyner, and we are navigating the journey. Today's journey is really very special. And if you're watching, or if you see this later, you need to forward this link, because what we're going to talk about today is the very part and basic information about what is at the heart of democracy. And that is at the precinct level, at the individual level, at those people that take the time to become members of the party. Today is the Democratic Party, but they're people that belong to the Republican Party and the Green Party and all that. And all of them at the base, at the core, is about the people, the membership and the precincts. Now, as you know, when we're quarantined, we don't get to have the membership meetings, the precinct meetings, and above all, the conventions. And that's been going on since day one, conventions. And again, that's the heart, the soul. That is where all of this comes together, so that we elect city council people, our House and the Senate people, and the president, and the senators and the House. All of that begins right now. So what we're going to do today is we're going to talk to the moment come, who was, is, has been a member of the Democratic Party, as long as I can remember. And she was the chair of the convention when it was going to be at the Sheridan, when it was all bricks and mortar, like we've always done. And in fact, the Sheridan was waiting on us to come back. So, but now we have to do it a digital convention, or an e-convention, as it's called. So we're going to talk to Les Mommies. And she's going to tell us how all of that works. So good morning, Les Mommies. Thank you for taking the time to be with us. And as a caveat, we had invited Kate Stanley, who is the interim chair. And she is working on counting ballots from the primary. So she couldn't be with us today. And Les Mommies has graciously agreed to be with us. So aloha, Les. Aloha. Aloha, Marsha. Thank you for having us on your program today. You're right. Kate had hoped to be your guest on today's program. But as you know, we just completed the presidential primary poll. So she's at the headquarters working on that. Because this Saturday, we hope to announce the results of that poll. She wanted me to say that she's hopeful that everyone is healthy. And she wants everyone to know that while COVID-19 has introduced significant and unprecedented challenges, we're up to the challenge. So the staff is working. We're doing things in very creative ways. Okay, so let me get to why you invited us to come. And that is to talk about the convention. I think it would be good to give a little background. Okay, please do. So normally, every other year, usually it's in the even year, we have, I'm sorry, a party convention in Hawaii. And like you say, normally we have it at a hotel. And then our normal agenda has wonderful ceremonies to open. We have guest speakers. We network because it's usually an election year. So you know, a lot of campaign brochures and all of that. I mean, it's very, very exciting. And then we do the business of convention, which is our affirmative action plan, our platform, our rules. And then our members from the grassroots level introduced resolutions that they hope we will pass and that our legislators, you know, will introduce a bill to implement some of the things that we think we need done for the state. So and we normally have committee meetings where those resolutions are debated and all of that. So this year, up until May, we were working with the Sherton and actually we were going to postpone till September. But as the COVID-19 cases increased, and then as we looked at other things that the party has to do, we decided as a body that we needed to cancel the convention. It wasn't an easy decision because the Democratic Party supports our workers, supports our hotel industry and then all of the people in it. And so it was not an easy decision. But we finally settled on that. Okay, so fast forward. We have to be very creative because for our party, this is an election year for our leaders. And then on top of that, we have a national convention and that national convention is still being held. Anyway, for now. So again, we have to be creative. It's our year to elect our new officers, our party chair, our national committee man, woman, the Senate district representatives to the state Central Committee, etc. So what the state Central Committee decided to do was to hold an electronic convention or we've dubbed it an E convention. Not the most ideal. I mean, some people will not like it. But I got to thinking about this this morning about what's the benefit of an E convention. And I won't say this, I think we're going to have more Democratic delegates participating than we have it in in person convention. Oh, I think I would, well, I agree with you because the neighbor island people don't have to stay in the hotel, they don't have to have airfare and all of that kind of things. So yes, you're right. Right. So I think that, you know, we're going to have a larger participation. And then, like you say, cost was very relevant because to come to convention from the neighbor islands, when I calculated it, it's like 1500 to $2,000. Where this way, this way, it's $20 to help, you know, for the platform. My question to that, as I have said, is that this, but it also leaves out people. So if we have about 25,000 members that say they are members of the party, and in the state of Hawaii, we have 22,000 people statewide that do not have internet connection in the neighborhood where they live. How do we get to those people? How do they participate? So that is an excellent question. So for those who are I'm going to call internet or computer challenged, they will be given an opportunity to phone in on a hotline. So instead of themselves going online and filling out the ballot, they will do it through this hotline. And we're going to give people sufficient notice where they can seek other alternatives. So let me give you an idea. The other day I was talking to a couple of elders on Hawaii Island, and what they told me was they can't afford internet on their retirement page. So what they do is if they know something's coming up, they go to the library and they use the library's internet. They have a computer. It's just that they don't have the internet. So they go to the library. The other when you think about it, you know, places like Starbucks has internet. The other thing is, but now we can't do that. You can't go to Starbucks is closed. You can't go to Starbucks and use a computer. I think I think by then we'll be okay by the time I give you some timelines. Yeah. The other thing is we're calling on our county chairs, you know, each county Kawaii, Maui, Oahu, what did I miss, Kawaii, they all have county chairs. So we're calling on our county chairs to be creative also to help those delegates that reside on their island who don't have this capability to assist them. But we do have the helpline. The delegates will be provided that information and they can call in. So it's not the most ideal, but, you know, those are the cards that we... Well, could you, let's rewind a couple of decades ago, and every county has a newspaper. Could you have an article in the newspaper that says if you're a member of the Democratic Party and you want to participate, this is the date and this is the way to connect. I mean, just a small article, but every island has local newspapers. Right. You know what is really interesting is do you know that those newspapers, those ads cost a whole lot. No, this is a community mess. This is not an ad. Yeah. Yeah. No, so we're going to take advantage of all of the news media and the social media that's available to us. Like we have a Twitter account. We have a Facebook account. Email is wonderful. Probably we'll, you know, we'll do interviews like this. Right. Oops. I'm so sorry. We'll have to turn this off. So we'll just fix that real quickly. Okay. Yeah. So, but again, you know, while I love having you and I thought this was really absolutely important that we do this. Yes. But we still, this is reaching people that have internet. So we need to reach those people that don't. And that's why I was thinking of newspaper. Yes. Just as a community notice, that's all. I do not believe that the party has discarded that. And in fact, when we were doing the in-person one, we did take out an ad and all of the newspapers on Hawaii Island. It was in two newspapers, you know, for the east side from the west side. And I'm pretty sure that the party is looking at that. So I'm not saying we're not going to do that. I am saying though, that it is quite expensive. That's why I've said, but everyone of them has a community column where you just put in a little, not an ad, but just a notice. A little, I get it. Yeah. And yeah. So that, and you explain to whoever you talk to at that newspaper, well, this is, this is what we've got when there's a lot of people in your neighborhood that don't have internet connection. That's very simple. Yes. Yes. So that we can reach. Now, tell us if I wanted to do a resolution or a platform or, because I was on the platform committee for that county convention. So if I wanted to do that, to participate or send in a resolution, can I still do that? Is that possible? Okay, no. Because this year's convention, the only business that will be conducted at convention is the election of the new officers and the, the presidential electors. And that's because think about it. If you have a thousand people on whatever platform you use, and you know how we do our resolution, we debate them, right? Somebody moves adoption. There's a second and we debate them. It would, it would just, I don't know how we would do it. So, so we want to be careful that we do what we can to get the main business done. Even that is challenging for us. We don't want to bite off more than we can handle. But let me address how we do take care of those kinds of issues. So for example, we normally update our affirmative action plan. So we've taken a look at the plan. It's still a good plan. There's nothing there that if we didn't adopt a new plan, that it would adversely impact the party or on our mission. The same thing for the platform. My gosh, if you look at our platform, I forget how many pages it is, but it's a large detailed platform. Let's see. Oh, our rules. Our rules can use some updating. But if somebody, and if somebody feels strongly about getting a search and section updated, they can submit that to the state central committee, because under our bylaws, the state central committee can amend the bylaws. So they meet quarterly and you just need to submit it to the state central committee. And then we have our rules committee take a look at it. And then, you know, we vote on it. So resolutions. Okay, so on resolutions, you can do that any time of the year also. Again, it would go to the state central committee. The chair would refer it to an appropriate committee to review it and to make a recommendation of adopt or not. And then it would be brought back to the state central committee and acted upon. It's just that when it is finally approved, instead of saying that it was approved by the delegates at a state convention, it will say it was adopted by the state central committee. But it has the same force in the end. Okay, speaking of the state central committee, who is on the state central committee? Oh, my gosh. Oh, I don't mean the individuals. I meant how do we? Yeah, yeah. So we have people like, okay, let's start with the officers, all of the officers of the party, the party chair, the vice chair, the secretary, the treasurer. We have representatives of all the Senate districts. We have caucuses, as you know, we have Hawaiian affairs caucus, Kupuna caucus, education caucus, LGBT, environmental, a number of caucuses, and each of them have two representatives to the state central committee. So there is about 80 members on the state central committee. This is statewide. statewide, yeah. And on top of that, all of the county chairs and each county has two representatives. So young Democrats, they have representation on the state central committee also. So it's a rather large group. It is, yeah. So are all of them delegates to the convention? Are they automatic? Do they all vote at the convention? Yes, all members of the state central committee are automatic delegates. So let's talk about the delegates then to the convention because that is a good question. And because I don't want to miss anybody, I'm just going to quickly look at my notes that I took out of our bylaws. So besides the members of the state central committee, we have elected officials. For example, the governor, the lieutenant governor, and even the former governors and lieutenant governors, the former party chairpersons, county officials, like the mayors. The mayors, yeah. The mayors. You have to be a Democrat. Well, yeah, but the mayors are what, nonpartisan, so. I know, but you'd have to be a Democrat. We don't have any, all of them are Democrats anyway, yeah. I'm thinking that Mayor Kim is not, but I'd have to go double check that. I don't think he is a Democrat. Okay, not well, yeah. But anyway, so all of those people make, okay, all of those people are delegates to the convention. And in addition, as you know, on March 4th, we had the precinct meetings, right? It's the heart and soul of the party because that's the grassroots level, right? And all of the precincts elected their delegates. Any position that was not filled, the district consuls, which is one level up, they are looking at those vacancies and holding meetings to identify other delegates to fill those positions. So we should come out to about 1,327 eligible voters. I'm going to guess that maybe 1,000 will participate in the e-convention. So when you talk about election, what are we electing? So we're going to be electing the party chair, the national committee man, national committee woman, the state senate district representatives to the state central committee and the presidential electors. So we'll be electing all of those. Prior to the election in the next month or so, we will be electing our delegates to the democratic national convention. But that will not be done as part of the convention. We're holding a separate election, but all of these delegates are the eligible voters. Yeah. So if a person is on the state central committee now, yes. Do we have to re-elect them or are they automatic? So that's not a real easy question to answer in that we have caucuses and the caucuses follow their bylaws. So their bylaws may have a term of office that's a little bit different than uh those who are officers of the party. So for officers of the party, their term starts at the at the first day or the or right after the convention adjourns. Yes, yes. Okay. For the people that are, yeah, okay. So if my district, my senate district, sends a male and a female. Yes. To the state central committee. Yes. Are they automatic to the convention or do they have to? Yes, because they are, because they are senate district representatives to the state central committee. And their term would not end until the adjournment of this convention. So your current senate district representatives would be the delegates for this. Okay. Yeah. To this convention. To this convention. Right. So then we would have to re-elect somebody. Yes. With the next, okay. Yes, yes, yes. So we will be electing new senate district representatives. But in the meantime, we don't have to do anything with them. Let them just go to the e-convention and then we think about if we re-elect or can we re-elect them? Do they have a limit? Yeah, you can re-elect them. Okay. Now, now everybody that's going to the convention though and to the eligible vote at the convention, there's a $20 registration fee. And that's just to offset the cost of holding the convention. So everyone is being asked to pay the $20 fee. If there are people who are strapped, they can ask for a registration waiver or a scholarship. And then we'll look, you know, to see if we have any money that we can use to cover. So we don't have a lot of people though that that ask for that. We have some. And normally we spend maybe $5,000 to $10,000 for that. While I'm asking, the district chairs and the regional chairs, are they automatic to the convention? Do we have to put them? The, I don't believe, I can't remember, the district chairs will come under at the precinct meetings. They would have been elected at the precinct meetings. Yes, but are they automatic to the convention? I don't believe that. I'm looking at my notes here, but I don't believe that the districts are automatic. Yeah, it's the precinct clubs and then the chairperson, the national committee man, woman, the members of the state central committee, et cetera. So the district chair is an automatic? No, no, not that I can see anyway. They're not automatic. Or the regional chairs? Oahu has a unique, you know, regional chair, but we do not serve on the state central committee. It's their Oahu county representatives that serve, I'm not Oahu county, the county representatives that serve on the state central committee. Okay. We're just, we're almost out of time. We've got two minutes. Yeah, so, but I need to double check that question about the districts. I just can't remember off the top of my head. Senate district reps, yes, definitely. There's no question about that. Let me see. I think, I think we covered how the convention would work. So I just like to give some key dates real quick. So July 11th is when the convention will be called to order by email. Right after that on the 11th and 12th, we will hold the first election. Merriman River Group is a company that specializes in election management. They will be doing that work for us. The delegates will be given a pin to access their ballot online. And then on July 24th, the meeting will again be called to order. And at that one, we will elect the party chair and the Senate district representatives. And then right after the convention is done, there will be a state central committee meeting at which the new officers, the vice chair, the secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer and assistant treasurer will be elected. You had also asked me a question about how do we know who is running for office who will be on the ballot. Okay, so between June 22nd and July 22nd, candidates can provide their campaign statement that will be posted to the Democratic Party website. It is available to anyone. You just need to go to the Democratic Party website, which is HawaiiDemocrats.org. And then can I quickly do a close-up? Okay, so our party leadership has really, really worked tirelessly to organize and plan this e-convention. And we think that the processes that we put into place will result in effective convention and election. But we know it's not the most perfect. But we ask for everybody's support and understanding. It isn't what we wanted to do, but this COVID-19 has posed some significant challenges to us. So we encourage everybody to visit the website. And Marcia, we thank you for this opportunity to talk about the Democratic Party of Hawaii e-convention. I hope I've answered the questions. But if not, if people flow questions to you, you can just call me and I'm happy to get the answers for you. Well, like I said, this is the heart of democracy. This is it. The precinct level, the people that you meet at Safeway, the people that you meet in the drugstore. This is the heart of democracy. And we must participate, even if it's not convenient to go to the convention. But we do have this wonderful technology now. So I'm encouraging everybody to participate, to tell your friends, to take the link to this show, because it will be on YouTube by the end of the day. Share it so people get to understand and how they can participate. Because that is the heart of democracy. And we must, given what we see of that orange man in the White House, we must participate. We must keep democracy alive. So thank you for taking this time to be with us. And we'll talk to you again. And we'll see you soon.