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Question: My wife and I are moving out of Hawaii after being a resident for five years. We have Hawaii state ID cards and have registered to vote here. We are moving to another state where we are now registered to vote and have driver’s licenses from that state. What steps should we take regarding our Hawaii ID cards and voter registration to become an ex-resident? Is there any other area we need to look at or change, besides our postal address?
Answer: There’s really nothing “official” that you are required to do to cut ties to Hawaii.
Notifying the U.S. Postal Service and anyone else that you want to know about the change of address is common sense, but you don’t need to get rid of your Hawaii driver’s license and/or state identification card, or even notify the county that you were voting in that you are moving out of state.
“We do not require you to turn in your ID (card) or driver’s license when moving,” said Sheri Kajiwara, director of the city Department of Customer Services. They both remain effective until their expiration dates.
A Hawaii driver’s license is valid for driving in other states, and vice versa, she said, while “a valid state ID is valid anywhere. This is the whole backbone of the federal REAL ID program,” in which specific documents for obtaining state IDs and driver’s licenses are required to show proof of identification, citizenship and residency.
The states “all meet the same specs,” Kajiwara said.
Meanwhile, if a voter wants to have his or her name removed from voter registration rolls in Hawaii, he can fill out an “affidavit for cancellation of voter record,” said Honolulu City Clerk Glen Takahashi.
You can complete this form — found online at bit.ly/1ANxbfS — or send a letter requesting your name be removed from the pertinent county rolls, providing the same information requested on the form: name, Social Security number, date of birth and Hawaii address.
The form can also be used to cancel the registration of a deceased voter.
Otherwise, as Takahashi explained previously, if a registered voter doesn’t vote for a designated period, “their name would eventually fall off the rolls.”
That likely would be after four years, when legal requirements for removal have been satisfied: There is evidence an address has changed and there are two cycles of voting inactivity.
Question: How do I safely dispose of 60 to 70 VHS tapes?
Answer: Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any demand for the tapes, either for recycling purposes or by collectors.
The monthly “Going Green” recycling events don’t accept them and neither do the Friends of the Library of Hawaii, for example.
The word from the city Department of Environmental Services is to just toss them into the trash bin, as is, where they’ll be burned at HPOWER for fuel.
Mahalo
To the strangers who came to my aid when I fainted at the Aloha Stadium swap meet recently, especially the young lady who called 911 and stayed by my side until the emergency medical technicians arrived; the vendors who gave me a chair, water and a cool ice pack; the person who lifted me up; and my cousins, who were with me at the time. Thanks also to the professional EMTs, the stadium first aid personnel and the staff at the Pali Momi emergency room. I really appreciate all of your help. — Alice, A Senior Citizen
Mahalo
Not only to the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts for decorating the graves of veterans on Memorial Day, but also to many others, including Job Corps kids, their leaders and city workers who gathered clusters of plumerias; the seniors who plucked the plumerias from the clusters, then returned the following day to sew leis at various city and county sites to help decorate the graves. They have been doing this annually for years. — Lorraine Akana/Makiki
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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