Lynne Matusow, Secretary of the Hawaiian Democratic Party

Ms. Matusow,

Hi! My name is Justin Riggs, and I'm writing you from Denver, Colorado, mainland USA. I've been working on a research project for about a month now, and am hoping that you might be able to help me put one more piece of the puzzle together.

My project has centered around how presidential candidates gain access to the general election ballot in various states. Over the past month, I've contacted nearly every Secretary of State's office in the country, and been lucky enough to receive answers to my questions from nearly all of them. Hawaii has been my latest project, and I'm contacting you because your name was on one of the documents sent to me by Kevin Cronin, the Chief Election Officer in the Office of Elections of Hawaii.

As you may or may not know, Hawaii is a bit different than most other states in that it requires the political party of the candidate to declare that the candidate is legally qualified to serve as President under the provisions of the Constitution.
Where I'm hoping you can help me is in providing me with a small description of how you and the Hawaii state parties determine whether or not the candidate meets this criteria.

I want to thank you in advance for your time, and sincerely wish you a happy holiday season. I look forward to your response, and hope that you might be able to help me finish off my research project strong!

Thanks again,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs