A former official of the Democratic Party kindly telephoned Ballot Access News to explain why the party’s national convention officials sent a different version of the national convention nominee certification form to Hawaii than to the other states. As noted earlier, the Democratic certification to Hawaii says the nominees for President and Vice-President are constitutionally qualified, and the certifications to the other states didn’t contain that language.
Democrats sent a different version of their Hawaii certificate because Hawaii election law, section 11-113(c)(1), says that officials of a ballot-qualified party must file a sworn application with the names and addresses of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees, and a statement that each candidate is legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Section 11-113(c)(1)(C) also requires a statement that the candidates are the duly chosen candidates of both the state and the national party. Therefore, it is plausible that the Hawaii law only applies to the state party officials, not the national party officials. But the law is ambiguous, and the Democratic national convention officers felt it was best to be cautious and assume the law applies to the national certification form. Therefore, after the 2008 Democratic national convention, the party prepared one particular type of form for Hawaii, and a simpler, shorter form for the other states.
