The Maui County Council remained one member short as the Hawaii Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit to invalidate the results of the race for the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu seat.
In December, Noelani Ahia, who lost the general election by 513 votes, sued her opponent, the incumbent and Council chair, Alice Lee; Maui County Clerk Kathy Kaohu, whose direct supervisor was Lee; and the state’s chief election officer, Scott Nago. Ahia alleges that they mishandled the effort to cure 812 ballots with deficient signatures that went uncounted, and is seeking to invalidate the results and run against Lee in a second election.
Ahia claims that election officials took an “unreasonable” amount of time to send letters to the 812 voters on Nov. 12, four days
after the election. The deadline to cure ballots was
Nov. 16. Of those notified, 106 people took action in time to have their vote counted, according to the county.
Ahia, co-founder of the Mauna Medics Healer Hui, received 22,220 votes to Lee’s 22,733 in the race for the Council seat, according to a final count Nov. 21.
“Corners had to be cut, and it opened an avenue for mistakes to be made,” said Lance Collins, who is representing Ahia with attorney Bianca Isaki. He was describing the chaotic night after voting closed, as some 20 election officials had to check the signatures on about 15,000 envelopes. Of the remaining 706 ballots that were left uncounted, hundreds of signatures were either in the wrong place or had other issues, according to Collins.
After the close of the vote, Collins said, election workers prioritized sweeping up the voting center over sending timely notices to voters with faulty ballots to cure them.
Caleb Rowe, a deputy corporation counsel for Maui County, called the county’s election workers “hardworking, competent, professional and fair” and said that Ahia could run in the next election if the result displeased her.
“Nobody’s casting aspersions on any of the people,” Collins said. The main issue is that the election was never finished, he said.
When justices questioned the reasonableness of the timeline of mailing notices to voters, Rowe said he considered it reasonable.
Associate Justice Todd Eddins asked whether there were statistics on all the counties’ rejection of ballots; Rowe said he didn’t know. Eddins went on, “Because if there’s a wild disparity, it would seem to me that the voters of Maui might be, due to the subjective whims of the clerk, treated unequally.”
Associate Justice Michael Wilson asked Collins, “Are you suggesting that there shouldn’t be a repeat of the same kind of notice in terms of the amount of time being given to the voters to cure deficiency?”
“Yes, your honor,” Collins said. “We would ask that, to the extent that the court is able to, to provide guidance on all of these issues because all of the issues that have been raised with us will be repeated if elections officials are not given guidance on the correct
interpretation of the
statutes.”
Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald said the court would issue a decision
“expeditiously.”
Dozens of spectators already had taken seats before the justices entered the court Thursday.
Shane Sinenci, the Maui County Council member representing East Maui, said the case has hindered official Council business. The Council already has approved Council member
Tasha Kama, who represents Kahului, as chair but has not yet sorted out committees and rules, he said. Should the election be decided in Lee’s favor, she could, however, be reappointed chair, he said.
“We can move forward,” Sinenci said. “However, moving forward without the ninth person is kind of
troublesome.”
How long the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu seat remains empty is unclear. A second election could take up to 30 days, without counting an appeal, Sinenci said. “We’re ready to go to work, but this is just looming over our heads,” he said.
