Richard Borreca: Voters should be checking mailboxes to get ready for Hawaii’s first all-vote-by-mail election

So after years of election officials pleading and begging, and good government groups marshalling facts and piling stacks of spreadsheets, the Hawaii Legislature got one thing right and authorized 100% vote by mail for this year’s primary and general elections.

No matter how much you appreciate the warm neighborhood get-together feeling of voting in some hot local school cafeteria, this year the election is coming to you. All you have to do is check your mailbox.

Without the crowds, you will be safer, the election should be cheaper and barring some catastrophe, it should be much simpler. Open your ballot, follow the instructions, vote, sign and mail it back and you are done.

Now with the coronavirus pandemic halting normal life, it appears encouraging that Hawaii should at least be able to vote on schedule. That is not the case everywhere in the country.

At least a dozen states have postponed their presidential primaries, according to a briefing paper by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). Three other states have postponed special elections for U.S. House or Senate seats.

Already five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah — are voting only with mail-in ballots this year.

Making it easier to vote has never been a national Republican goal. Now with President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming without proof that voting by mail and absentee voting lead to voter fraud, even less GOP emphasis is put on getting people to vote.

Trump last week said in a tweet: “The mail ballots are corrupt, in my opinion.

“Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country,” he said, although he voted by mail in 2018.

A large vote turnout historically has helped the Democratic ballot, as 2016 showed with Trump winning Electoral College votes, but decidedly losing the popular vote.

Back in Hawaii, elections officials have already sent two notes to all registered voters. Those cards told voters about the move to elections by mail, reminding them that no traditional polling places will be established. The mailing also helped county election officials clean up the voter registration rolls, officials said.

A new card goes out this month, asking for the voter’s signature, which is required to confirm a voter’s identity to validate the ballot. Sending the card back is not mandatory.

If county election officials don’t get a new signature, they will use the signature that is already on file to confirm a voter’s identity, according to state elections spokeswoman Nedielyn Bueno.

When you vote, “if there is a mismatch between the signature on your ballot and the sample signature, county election officials will notify the voter and they will be given up to five business days after the election to correct it,” Bueno said.

That election security will go a long way to proving the ballot is valid.

The rest is up to the state’s registered voters to check their mailbox around July 21, and mail the completed ballot back before the Aug. 8 primary.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.