Hawaii’s electoral process, the officials who
oversee it and even the volunteers who keep island elections running across the state are facing unprecedented hostility and even threats as the Nov. 8 general election approaches.
“It is unfortunate. It’s just sad,” said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center. “There’s no evidence of any fraud on the mainland and no evidence of fraud here. The sort of electoral
ballot-stuffing fraud that people have convinced themselves happens just doesn’t happen. There’s just no evidence. People have tried
to make the point that ‘My dog could vote or I can vote multiple times,’ but it just doesn’t happen.”
Simmering
frustration and
unspecified allegations of election fraud in Hawaii since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election boiled over at September’s meeting of the state Elections Commission when people threatened to track down election officials, saying they knew where they live and would face consequences.
One woman seethed in her testimony and said she had personally seen a voter register to vote on Election Day and then vote — apparently unaware that the same-day process is legal under state law.
“It’s been building,” said Scott Nago, Hawaii’s chief election officer. “People have been coming to our
office and demanding a lot of things.” Seemingly every allegation of ballot impropriety on the mainland is transplanted to Hawaii, Nago said.
The result is that a new rule is now in place barring journalists from watching the ballot-counting process at the state Capitol unless other election observers are also present. The rule was prompted by election deniers in Georgia who, upon observing that state’s ballot-counting process, questioned and “threatened the way people were counting ballots,” Moore said.
“Yes, occasionally the
office of elections will send
a ballot to someone who doesn’t live there anymore,” Moore said. “But that’s not
a conspiracy. The consequences are severe. You could go to prison for one extra vote. It all changed with Trump. We’ve never had a national-level candidate dispute the results of an election until Trump. And he convinced a lot of people in Hawaii that our election system is rigged. None of it is true.”
Moore called the thinly veiled threats aimed at election officials and volunteers “terroristic threatening.” He noted that the volunteers “are often elderly people.” About 400 people have volunteered to help out with this year’s primary and general elections, including about 250 on Oahu.
Election observers represent “political parties, interested individuals, political groups and the media,” said Auli‘i Tenn, section head
of counting center operations for the state Office
of Elections.
Before the primary election, so many people wanted to help — including looking for improprieties as observers — that election officials had to turn away shifts of volunteers because there were multiple shifts in which all of the day’s incoming
ballots had already been counted.
For the general election, “We’re good as of right now,” said Office of Elections spokesperson Nedielyn Bueno, adding, “But we want to recognize our volunteers.”
Election observers found no improper procedures during the Aug. 13 primary election, but there were unofficial allegations that ballots were not collected at a remote ballot box by the scheduled close of voting, which turned out to be unfounded, Nago said.
In general, Nago said,
the ongoing attacks and
harassment are “really
hampering our ability to conduct elections.”
On Monday some 726,000 ballots were mailed out. Voters who do not receive a ballot by today should contact their county elections office, Nago said.
To avoid backups at in-person voting service centers, Nago encouraged unregistered voters to register online even if they want to vote in person, or update their addresses online if they need to update their registrations.
People wanting to register and vote in person on Election Day in August pushed back the scheduled 7 p.m. close of Maui’s voter service center, delaying the overall release of all of the election results, Nago said.
On Thursday, Native Hawaiian community organizations announced they will once again encourage Native Hawaiians to vote, and will organize sign-waving and “walk to the (ballot) box” events across the state.
“There is a long-standing misinformed belief that Native Hawaiians neither care nor show up to the polls to vote, as compared to other ethnic groups in Hawaii,” Hailama Farden, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, said in a statement. “This is a tiresome and harmful stereotype. We are once again organizing to send a clear message that our lahui is rising, and we will show up to the polls and amplify our voices this election.”
Participating organizations include Kamehameha Schools, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Ka Leo o na ‘Opio, Native Hawaiian Education Council, Papa Ola
Lokahi, Kanaeokana, Ka ‘Umeke Ka‘eo Public Charter School and Kanu o ka ‘Aina New Century Public Charter School.
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