Thousands of local Republican voters are expected to participate in the Hawaii Republican Presidential Caucuses.

Though long a minority party in the islands, the GOP believes it is seeing gains in turnout among members.

The March 12 caucus will come just one week after Super Tuesday, where California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia are among the states voting.

Currently, the field of presidential contenders is huge, yet former President Donald Trump holds a double-digit lead.

In Hawaii, the caucus will run as follows, according to the party’s website:

• Voting is open for two hours only, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.;
• voting will be in-person at caucus locations for districts with “genuine” paper ballots;
• photo IDs are required;
• all voters must complete a new Hawaii GOP Party Card ;
• on-the-spot Hawaii voter registration with photo ID is allowed;
• there is no mail-in voting, nor proxy voting; and
• absentee voters may cast provisional ballots in-person only at any caucus location statewide if unable to make it to their home district.

Dozens of caucus locations statewide will be announced 60 days before the caucus.

And votes will directly determine which candidates get presidential delegates from Hawaii. 

Hawaii has twice voted for Republican presidents: Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.

The presidential preference poll for the Democratic Party of Hawaii is currently in limbo.