From a press release Tuesday (June 18):

Hawai’i Republican Party Chairman David Chang issued the following statement regarding the Hawai’i Democratic Party‘s lawsuit challenging Hawaii’s open Primary Election:

The Hawai’i Democratic Party is fully within its rights under the U.S. Constitution to choose a closed Primary system.

By an overwhelming vote of the delegates at our 2011 convention, the Hawai’i Republican Party has chosen to exercise our right to retain our open primary system even as the Democrats close theirs. We invite the participation of Republicans, Independents, and dissatisfied Democrats in the Hawai’i Republican Party’s open primaries to provide voters in every district with a community-focused General Election alternative that reflects the values of the majority of Hawai’i’s voters.

In contrast, the Democrats seek to limit who may participate in selection of their candidates to protect the interests of their party bosses, machine politics, and their far left base.

Read Civil Beat’s blog on the lawsuit.

Hawaii GOP Convention, Kaneohe, 2013.

—Chad Blair