State falters in review of elections

Hawaii’s troubled 2012 elections dropped the state closer to the bottom nationally in election administration, a new report contends.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, in a report scheduled for release Tuesday, ranked Hawaii 41st in the nation in election administration in 2012, down from 25th in 2008. Georgia, Hawaii and Vermont had the largest decreases in election performance.

The state Office of Elections miscalculated the number of ballots needed at polling places for the November general election in 2012, which led to ballot shortages at two dozen precincts, causing long lines, voter frustration and a delay in publicly reporting election results.

Hawaii also again had the unwanted distinction of having the lowest voter turnout in the nation.

Overall, Pew found that election administration improved nationally in 2012, with 40 states scoring higher compared with 2008.

"We know common-sense solutions to improve elections exist," David Becker, director of Pew’s election initiatives proj­ect, said in a statement. "States are pioneering innovations that make a real difference in the efficiency and accuracy of their elections operations while also saving money. The Election Performance Index allows policymakers to pinpoint what’s working while also identifying areas where improvement is needed."

Pew’s Election Performance Index ranks states based on 17 indicators, including voter turnout, voter registration, voting wait time and voting information tools.

Key indicators for Hawaii included the state’s low voter turnout.

By the conventional method of measuring turn­out — the percentage of registered voters who cast ballots — the state had 62 percent voter turnout in 2012.

But when measuring turnout by people who are eligible to vote — a broader snapshot of voter participation — the state’s voter turnout was 44.5 percent, the worst in the nation. Hawaii also had the lowest voter turnout — 49 percent — in 2008.

Another key indicator, according to the report, was voting wait time. Voters waited seven minutes on average to vote in 2012, up from 5.7 minutes in 2008. The Office of Elections website also had only two of the five online voting information tools that Pew recommends. Pew suggests that the state add look-up tools for registration status, absentee ballot status and provisional ballot status.

Pew predicted that Hawaii’s election performance will improve once the state implements online voter registration, which is required under state law by the 2016 elections.

Rex Quidilla, a spokes­man for the Office of Elections, declined to comment until he can review the Pew report with Scott Nago, the state’s chief election officer.

While the Office of Elections supervises elections, county clerks have been delegated the responsibility for voter registration, absentee voting and election administration.

During the August primary in 2012, poor management by Hawaii County election officials caused more than a dozen precincts to open late and prompted Gov. Neil Abercrombie to issue an emergency proclamation that extended voting hours.

The state took over election administration in Hawaii County for the November general election in 2012.

The state Elections Commission rejected calls by some critics to fire Nago after the 2012 elections.

Lori Tomczyk, who had handled ballot operations for the Office of Elections, and who was sent to Hilo to oversee the general election in Hawaii County, resigned.

Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai), who had wanted Nago fired, said the Office of Elections should have faced consequences for the poor performance.

"I think it’s criminal that there are none," he said.