Computer glitch delays getting civil union registrations

CRAIG KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Martin Kerschbaumer, middle, works out some marriage license details with Mary Cathcart, clerical supervisor at the state Department of Health Building. Martin and his partner, Harald Kerschbaumer, received a civil union earlier in the morning.

Computer problems at the state Health Department this morning caused delays and frustrations for a handful of same-sex couples and civil union officiants trying to get registered for civil union ceremonies, which became legal in the islands at midnight Sunday.

Martin and Harald Kerschbaumer, both 43, had 10 people standing by this morning for their 9 a.m. civil union ceremony, which had to be delayed by 45 minutes because of the computer glitch.

Martin and Harald showed up at the Health Department at 7 a.m. and waited in line with a handful of same-sex and opposite-sex couples seeking their respective licenses.

"It took them two hours to get the computer running and we had to put our wedding on hold," Martin said today just after the couple's civil union ceremony at the eternal flame burning by the state Capitol. "It was frustrating because the reverend came half an hour early and we knew people were waiting for us."

The Health Department's online registration system continues to work but agents who help couples fill out the online registration process for civil unions were unable to get the system to work this morning, Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said.

While the system went online just after midnight on Sunday, today was the first day the public could show up in person at the Health Department on Punchbowl Street to get their civil union licenses processed.

Four or five couples who were held up by the computer problems this morning got their civil union and marriage licenses processed by state registrar Alvin Onaka at a different Health Department computer, Okubo said.

"While our electronic system does make things smoother and faster, we don't guarantee issuing a licence within a few minutes," Okubo said. "That's why a couple is allotted 30 days to conduct their ceremony. It does become a challenge when someone plans their ceremony within an hour or two of receiving their license."

Timothy Earhart, president of Dignity Honolulu, a branch of a national organization of gay Catholics, said he saw three same-sex couples turned away from the Health Department just after he showed up at 7:45 a.m. this morning.

Earhart had registered with the Health Department on Sunday to officiate civil union ceremonies but went down to the Health Department when it opened because he still cannot  print out his certificate.

"They had a big snafu with their computers," Earhart said. "Three couples seeking their civil union licenses had to be turned away because they (Health Department employees) couldn't get the terminals to work properly. Opposite-sex couples couldn't get their traditional marriage licenses, either."