A candidate running against state Rep. Jo Jordan for the House District 44 seat, representing Waianae, Makaha and Makua, shouldn’t be allowed to run as a Democrat, according to Michael Golojuch, assistant secretary for the Democratic Party of Hawaii. But because party officials didn’t notice the error in time, Cedric Gates will remain listed as a Democrat on the primary ballot.

If he wins in the Democratic primary against Jordan, he will also remain listed on the ballot as a Democrat in the general election.

Gates unsuccessfully ran for the same House of Representatives seat in 2014, but as a Green Party candidate, which bars him from the Democratic Party for three years, according to party rules, said Golojuch.

Golojuch sent out an email to party members Wednesday informing them of the issue.

“Mr. Gates knew he was not eligible to run as a Democrat as he was not a member of the DPH,” he wrote.

Golojuch said that Gates should have received a letter from the Democratic Party in 2014 informing him of his expulsion from the party, though he can’t confirm that it was ever sent.

Gates told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he never received such a letter. Furthermore, he said that he confirmed with the Democratic Party on May 27, the day he filed election papers, that he was an active member of the party.

Gates, who had several campaign signs defaced and spray-painted with a racial slur earlier this week, said he worried that his political opponents might be drumming up the issue for political gain.

“Only two weeks before the primary election, they are bringing this out of the blue, and I think it is to definitely sway Democratic voters,” he said. “Ironically, this was the same day that my banners were vandalized. I think that there definitely needs to be further investigation on exactly what is going on.”

Candidates list their party affiliation when they file to run with the Hawaii Office of Elections. It’s up to a political party, registered voter or the chief election officer to challenge the affiliation, said Nedielyn Bueno, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Office of Elections. However, the objection period ended June 14, and nobody challenged Gates’ claim of being a Democrat.

Jordan, who has filled the seat since being appointed by then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie in 2011, expressed frustration with the Democratic Party over what she described as a hands-off approach to dealing with the situation.

“I have been very concerned about what my party has or has not been doing for two years — not for two days, not one week, for two years,” she said.

Jordan said she didn’t challenge Gates’ election filing herself because she didn’t have any documentation to back up her claim that Gates wasn’t a member of the Democratic Party. She said that party officials should have challenged the filing.

Gates, a former chairman of the Waianae Neighborhood Board, lost to Jordan in 2014, receiving 22 percent of the votes to Jordan’s 58 percent.