Confidence in the Hawaii County Elections Division Fading

Sixteen days before the Hawaii primary election is set to take place, spectators seem to be losing confidence in the ability of the Hawaii County Elections Division to carry out a fair and uncompromised election. Many of the issues stemmed from the redistricting of Hawaii County that delayed the beginning of processes to determine which ballot each voter should receive and set up accurate polling places. Jamae Kawauchi of the County Clerk’s Office explained that procedures normally beginning in January were pushed back, starting only on May 30. In a recorded press conference in mid-July, Kawauchi assured the public that, despite these hardships, the office was on track to provide adequate services on Election Day.

Now, however, new doubts are surfacing about Hawaii County’s abilities to do this. The office unexpectedly closed on Monday, a sign on the door saying that an audit was the reason for closure. In response, Chief Election Officer Scott Nago, based on Oahu, sent a chiding letter to Kawauchi. The letter can be found at the link above.

What can we learn from this untimely confusion? First, we should make sure that any redistricting is finalized well in advance. While Kawauchi has said that her office did a good job organizing voter rolls on short notice, this working under time pressure should not be required. Let’s make sure that preparation for elections goes according to schedule. Second, it’s possible that more oversight of county elections divisions is necessary. It is unfortunate that Nago’s previous inquiries into Hawaii County’s work went unanswered (as he reports in the letter to Kawauchi), and maybe this is a sign that additional supervision is wise. In order for the democratic process to function effectively, we need election preparation to go smoothly and predictably; for it to be carried out in any other manner is unfair to the constituents.

Update 7/31: Kawauchi cleared up several issues here, saying that previous news articles were incorrect. Inaccuracies were unsurprising, since the media was barred from Kawauchi's original press conference in mid-July. Hawaii County Council Chair Dominic Yagong defended Kawauchi while remaining closed-mouthed about the details of the County Clerk's preparedness.

Update 8/2: Things at the County Clerk's office seem to be under control now. Kawauchi revealed that the closure on July 23 for the "audit" was due to the discovery of four 2010 voters who had been allowed to cast two ballots in a fluke error, and about sixty persons who were registered to vote twice, under the same name in different districts. According to seasoned election personnel, this type of error is not uncommon, and does not represent systemic corruption. All seems well heading into the election next Saturday.

Disclaimer: I speak as an individual, NOT on behalf of Common Cause Hawaii. All opinions are my own.