STAR-BULLETIN / FEBRUARY 2008 As it was at many Democratic Party caucus sites in February, Jefferson School was packed as Hawaii voters jostled to cast their ballots for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

State voter roll rises by 16,000

For all of 2004, there were 647,238 registered voters in the general election.

"We appear to be processing more voter registration forms, perhaps due in part to the interest in the Republican and Democratic caucuses held earlier this year," Takahashi said.

Democrats turned out in record numbers for the state's Feb. 19 caucus, which Sen. Barack Obama won with 75 percent of the vote. More than 37,000 voters turned out for the Democratic caucus, much of it credited to phone banks and get-out-the-vote efforts by the Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigns.

To participate in the caucus, people had to be members of the party and registered voters, both of which could be taken care of on a walk-in basis at the caucus sites.