A momentous campaign season is culminating within weeks with the first round of decisions, at the primary election polling places. And at long last, Hawaii is beginning to strip its woefully disengaged voter base, guilty of low turnout at the polls, of its excuses for sitting on the sidelines.
This is the year when America will choose a new president, but the finality of that choice won’t happen until the general election Nov. 8. The primary election on Aug. 13, however, gives voters their first opportunity to winnow the field of contenders in several races, but principal among these is the contest among candidates for the Honolulu mayor’s office.
In that contest, once again, the contentious debate over the city’s elevated rail system is front and center. It’s the issue fueling a vigorous scramble for campaign funds, with the incumbent Mayor Kirk Caldwell atop the fundraising and spending sprint, with challengers Charles Djou accelerating his pace and Peter Carlisle well behind on that front.
This race is nonpartisan but the role of the primary election here is to choose the top two candidates to move on to the general, assuming that no hopeful wins a simple majority with this vote.
And if the rail system matters to any Oahu resident — and few are without an opinion on this issue — they should want a say in who will be at the helm in City Hall.
Last Thursday was the deadline for voters to register in the primary, but thanks to a 2014 law, any eligible resident still has a chance. The law enables same-day voter registration, and starting with this election, voters can walk in at one of the early-voting locations, open Aug. 1-11, and register right before casting their ballot.
Come the 2018 election, same-day registration opportunities will extend all the way to Election Day, at all the regular polling places. But the allowance in place now is a welcome improvement.
Hawaii already has relatively liberal access to the ballot, with vote-by-mail and walk-in early voting. Soon residents will have literally no justification for shirking their civic duty; everyone should exercise democracy’s most precious right.
In this election cycle, Honolulu voters will have a chance that comes around only once a decade, to review the county’s primary governing document, the City Charter. A commission soon will finish its work refining proposals for the voters’ consideration.
Among the many issues in contention is a proposal to extend from two to three the number of consecutive terms a mayor, City Council member or city prosecutor could serve. Advocates of the existing term limits say that curtailing terms is a way to bring new blood into the political realm; those who want the extension say that many city agenda items take more than eight years to accomplish.
Decisions on such issues may seem tailored for policy wonks, but the outcome will have real effects on how government will function, going forward. Voters need to pay attention to such details and think through the arguments before the proposed charter amendments come before them in November.
In the meantime, though, the primary election affords the voters their best chance to choose among the full range of political hopefuls. This year there are open seats in the state Legislature, and contested cases throughout the ballot, that have attracted newcomers seeking to unseat incumbents.
There is even some strong participation from candidates of third and fourth parties, as well as nonpartisan contenders, for those who believe — correctly — that wider choice is healthy for democracy. There are even races in which the primary contest is not only among those in the dominant Democratic Party; Republicans, Libertarians. Greens and others should revel in the chance to put their best prospects forward.
Even if this election essentially maintains the status quo, the fact that it includes newcomers, such as those inspired by the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, is encouraging. The arrival of a new political cohort, albeit one still in development, provides a glimmer of hope that a thriving democracy here might yet be revived.
