Aloha, Bart - From Tim Vandeveer's letter, it's clear that the idea of preventing Gates from being allowed to run was at least considered by him, the Party or both: "This re-reenrollment was not caught in a timely manner, which prevented any action through the Office of Elections..."  I don't think I'm the only one who finds it ironic that Gates showed up in March and became a Democrat at the same preference poll that saw Sanders and his supporters — many of them also new Democrats as of that day — score a big win. That same-day registration was good enough for many of the voters who made Sanders (not a Democrat) the choice of Hawaii Democrats, but not good enough to annoint Gates a Democrat in the eyes of Vandeveer and party rules does not compute. Not saying Vandeveer wrote the rules, of course, and I'm sure you read that I note he's new in the role.