Thirteen precincts in Hawaii County failed to open on time for the primary election, a report released Thursday shows, but the delays and other irregularities do not appear legally sufficient to change election results.
The state Office of Elections conducted an investigation after Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi did not provide a detailed account of what happened Saturday when given the opportunity at a meeting of state elections officials and county clerks in Hilo on Tuesday.
The investigation depicts Kawauchi, who was overseeing her first election, as an inexperienced clerk who lacked confidence and the ability to articulate the nature of the problem to state election officials or the public. The report concludes that Kawauchi’s performance unnecessarily undermined public confidence in the election.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie issued a proclamation Saturday to extend voting hours in Hawaii County by 90 minutes after reports that several of the county’s 40 precincts had not opened as scheduled at 7 a.m. The only previous time voting had been extended was when then-Gov. Ben Cayetano responded to heavy rain in 1996.
"The public’s confidence in our elections was rocked by this election proclamation, which normally is only issued when a natural disaster or emergency occurs," Scott Nago, the state’s chief election officer, said in the report. "The governor did not lightly issue this proclamation and under the circumstances, he arguably had no other choice than to protect the rights of the voters, if the county clerk’s general representations to (the) attorney general were correct."
Kawauchi did not return telephone calls Thursday seeking comment.
The investigation determined that while 13 precincts in Hawaii County opened late, most were operating within a half-hour after 7 a.m. Two West Hawaii precincts opened nearly an hour late, while two other West Hawaii precincts were not up and running until 8:40 a.m.
The report described the irregularities as "unfortunate" but not sufficient to change the election results. A challenger, according to the report, would have to show how the delays influenced the vote margin between candidates.
Lorraine Inouye, a former state senator and county mayor who lost a Democratic primary to state Sen. Malama Solomon on Saturday by 69 votes, said she might file a challenge with the state Supreme Court. Four of the precincts that opened late were in state Senate District 4 (Kaupulehu-Waimea-North Hilo), where Inouye and Solomon closely competed.
Inouye said she was not surprised by the conclusions in the state’s report. "I think this kind of validates what we all have been hearing," she said.
The Hawaii County Council has scheduled a special meeting for Monday to review the primary.
Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who appointed and supervises Kawauchi, said a can that contained election supplies had been dropped off the night before the primary at the wrong distribution point, creating a "domino effect" in delivering other supply cans Saturday that caused the most significant delays in opening the four West Hawaii precincts.
"It was human error," he explained.
Yagong suggested that the state was also in error by indicating that as many as half of county precincts had opened late.
"This type of false reporting or misinformation given out to the public, I think that certainly did not help any," he said, "because I don’t believe the report shows 50 percent, does it?"
But the state’s report contends that it was Kawauchi who gave the conflicting estimates about precinct-opening delays Saturday and who was still unable to provide a definitive account by Tuesday, prompting the state’s investigation.
Yagong said he was not trying to "minimize the fact that what happened on election day needs to be corrected. Obviously, when a business says they are going to open at 9 o’clock in the morning, customers expect it to be open at 9 o’clock.
"So what we need to really find out is what happened, and what took place, so that we can make corrections to it."
County Councilman Dennis "Fresh" Onishi had shared his concerns about the county’s preparation with the state Elections Commission last spring. Kawauchi subsequently assured the state that she was ready for the primary.
But Kawauchi’s unusual decision to close her Hilo office for a day in late July in relation to an internal audit of the 2010 vote and her lack of communication with state election officials and the public prompted Nago to send an experienced elections staffer to troubleshoot on Saturday. The attorney general’s office also assigned a deputy to the island.
"What my staff witnessed was poor planning, implementation and leadership by the county clerk," Nago said in the report. "Despite this, the hard-working staff and volunteers did their best under the circumstances and were able to get through the election. Essentially, the county clerk on election day is supposed to be like a field general with a plan of attack, who acts confidently, and has the support of his or her troops.
"The county clerk was in no way, shape or form that type of leader."
Onishi said he would have preferred that the state had not taken Kawauchi’s word and had sent help sooner.
"It doesn’t just reflect on the clerk right now. But it reflects, to me, to the state, and everyone who is involved," he said.
