Elections chief struggles to increase voter turnout

Hawaii is again showing up as the most mediocre voting state in the country.

The latest national report coming this week from the Pew Charitable Trust’s Voter Performance Index shows that in 2012 not only were we the least inclined to vote, we were the worst in just registering to vote.

"Hawaii’s overall average decreased 4 percentage points since 2008, placing the state among the lowest performers in 2012," the report said.

"The state was last in voter turnout in 2008 and 2012, with its rate decreasing 4.6 percentage points over those years.

"It was the only state with turnout below 50 percent in 2008 and the only one with less than 45 percent turnout in 2012."

Elections are in the state Constitution, no matter how much Hawaii’s average citizen doesn’t vote, we are still going to hold elections.

The people who show up will rule.

In 2010, Brian Schatz, a little known former state representative and Democratic party chairman, was elected lieutenant governor with just 83,476 votes 34.8 percent of the votes cast in the Democratic primary.

Schatz was then paired with Neil Abercrombie and the duo ran as a single ticket and crushed the GOP opponents.

Schatz became lieutenant governor and Abercrombie picked him for the U.S. Senate after the death of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

Schatz might still have won with a race with a bigger turnout, but to become the senior United States senator in any of the 50 states with 83,500 votes does not represent a groundswell of support, a mandate, or good news about our representative democracy.

There is a person responsible for this: the chief elections officer, who state law says is supposed to be responsible for "maximization of registration of eligible electors throughout the state."

"The chief elections officer may make surveys, carry on house-to-house canvassing or assist or direct the clerk in any other area of registration.

"The chief election officer shall be responsible for public education with respect to voter registration and information."

It is obvious that if this has been done in the past, it has not been effective. If this were a black and white TV comedy, this would be where Ricky says, "Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!"

The fellow on the firing line is Scott Nago, who has been Hawaii’s elections officer since 2010. He says the state is doing a new survey to find the areas with the lowest voter turnout.

Nago’s campaign will then target those underperforming districts and send voter registration forms to all houses without a registered voter.

Asked if that is enough and whether the state should launch a serious publicity and social media campaign about voter registration and voter turnout, Nago said it is complicated.

"There are a lot of things attributed to turnout. Administration of elections is one thing. It is not the sole thing that drives turnout," Nago said in an interview.

He said the election office aims "to make the mechanics of registering work, focusing on the what and where and how of voting."

Registering and voting can be made easier, but the candidates for office also can get involved, Nago argues.

"We see ourselves in partnership with candidates. We rely on candidates to provide the passion or spark to get the vote out," Nago said.

Besides not even getting 50 percent of the voters to the polls, the 2012 election was marked by polling places running out of ballots, a constant feud with election officials on Hawaii island, and even a gubernatorial declaration to extend voting hours because polls didn’t open on time.

Nago’s crew used to say that a state election was like a space shuttle launch: "There can be zero mistakes."

Well, the U.S. is out of the space shuttle business and the state Office of Elections is far from A-OK.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.