Prop 50

Hawaii voters will decide on two state ballot questions on November 2nd. Both are constitutional amendments.

The first, HB2376, proposes to amend the Hawaii Constitution to change the Board of Education to a board appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as provided by law. Currently, the Board of Education is an elected board.

The second, SB2807, proposes a constitutional amendment to authorize the Legislature to determine whether excess funds should be used as tax refunds or tax credits to taxpayers of the State, or be diverted into a rainy day fund for times of emergency, economic downturn, or unforeseen reduction in revenue.

Many other states across the country will also be voting on various proprositions on the November ballot. The National Conference of State Legislatures has started a blog called Prop 50 which will track and discuss the initiatives prior to Election Day.

Hawaii denied waiver on federal voting requirement for military

Hawaii received news today that the federal government has denied its request for a waiver on the requirement that military voters be given 45 days prior to an election to receive their ballots. Given that there are exactly 45 days between the primary election on September 18, 2010 and the general election on November 2, 2010, Hawaii does not meet the requirement.

The Associated Press/Honolulu Star-Advertiser story is here. Questions remain on what the Office of Elections will do to remedy the 2010 election situation.

The 45-day requirement is the reason the legislature passed HB2397 this year. The bill, enacted as Act 126, moves the primary election date up to the second Saturday in August in 2012. The Office of Elections did not feel it had enough time to move up the primary election date this year, opting to apply for the waiver.

2010 Census Means Redistricting in 2011

NCSL's December issue of State Legislatures focuses on redistricting at the federal, state and local level, the daunting process that takes place every 10 years following the Census. You can read the full story here.

The need for redistricting is based on the "one person, one vote" constitutional principle that guarantees that each person is equally represented, and that each legislative district is approximately equal in population. After the census results are turned over to the states in April 2011, the process of redistricting begins.

Now is the time for state legislatures to start preparing for redistricting. The Hawaii State Constitution, Article IV, lays out the process, starting with the establishment of the Reapportionment Commission on or before May 1st of the reapportionment year (2011).

Here is how reapportionment shall apply to the House of Representatives.

Here is how reapportionment shall apply to the State Senate. As well as how reapportionment will apply to the staggered terms for the Senate.

The Chief Elections Officer plays a critical role in the Reapportionment Commission's work.

Closing precincts could hurt voter turnout

The Office of Elections has proposed to the legislature to close 66 precincts prior to issuing a Request for Proposals for a new state voting system. A copy of the proposal can be found here. The precincts tagged for possible closure are all on Oahu. The Elections Office indicated that the neighbor islands had already consolidated their precincts in previous years.

Majority Leader Blake Oshiro offered his comments on the proposal in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

"I think, unfortunately, a lot of voters tend to be creatures of habit," said Oshiro (D, Aiea-Halawa). "I just think it's rife with the opportunity for a lot of confusion and people getting frustrated and, worse yet, missing their opportunity to participate in an election."

Speaker Calvin Say voiced similar concerns in The Advertiser:

"I would be very concerned if they have to close or not open the 66 precincts throughout the state of Hawai'i," he said. "Accessibility to a precinct poll is so important to the public at large and you can see that in the results of the voting for our neighborhood boards. The results were so poor."

The reduced number of precincts would mean that the Office of Elections would have a reduced number of voting machines to procure, thus resulting in some cost savings. The RFP for the voting system is scheduled to be published on July 1st, and if all goes according to plan, a contractor would be selected by September of 2009. The system needs to be in place prior to the upcoming 2010 election, which will include races for Governor, Lt. Governor, Congressional District 1, possibly Mayor, certain Council seats, half of the State Senate and all of the House of Representatives. By all accounts, a critical election year.

Also at issue is the fact that there is a cloud over the procurement of voting machines for the 2008 election. The Star-Bulletin writes:

Last year's election, including 800 voting machines, ballots and support services, cost $6.5 million, Cronin said.

A new contract is required because of legal challenges pending against a contract awarded last year.

The Elections Office had awarded a 10-year, $43 million contract to Texas-based Hart InterCivic. A competing firm, Nebraska-based ES&S, which had submitted a $19 million bid, protested the contract.

An administrative hearings officer ruled against the Elections Office last August, but said it was too late to rescind the contract. Hart conducted the elections for 2008, but the remainder of the contract was voided. The state has appealed.

A commenter on the Advertiser online story points out to what may be a flaw in the proposal:

lipscomb2 wrote:

There's a fine example of illogic: Fewer precincts means fewer voting machines! In actuality, it's not the number of precincts, it's the number of voters, that determines how much voting equipment is needed. The amount of voting equipment needed will decrease only if there are fewer people voting in the precincts. And that will result only from a combination of two factors: more mail-in ballots, and more voters who choose not to vote at all. This proposal seems aimed at one or both of the latter results.

Political Wisdom from the Great Pumpkin

"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin." Linus Van Pelt

Apparently, North Carolina does exit polls a little differently. They throw pumpkins. It's called "The Great Heads of Statesville Exit Poll" and you can read all about it on their blog. NCSL's The Thicket did a post about it this morning as well.

The pumpkins are painted with the faces of political candidates from the presidential race on down. They are tossed by a contraption called a "trebuchet", and the pumpkin candidates who land the farthest are declared the winners. I'm not sure how long they have predicted election outcomes using this method, but the organizers say their results are 80% accurate.

Last Friday, The Great Heads of Statesville Exit Poll was conducted and the pumpkins say that the McCain/Palin ticket is headed for the White House:

The McCain pumpkin spun to the right (of course) and landed at 81 yards. The Palin pumpkin veered left, but came back to the right and landed at 85 yards.

The Obama pumpkin went off to the left (again, of course) and landed at 79 yards. The Biden pumpkin also went left, and landed at 83 yards.

The pumpkin toss for North Carolina governor ended up in a tie at 86 yards each for Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory. Let's see if they actually end up in a tie.

It should be noted that there was a Hillary Clinton pumpkin, and they were going to toss it to see how far she would have gone, but the rain intervened.

Art work on the politicians' faces were done by local 7th and 8th graders.

Oregon considers "top two" primary

Washington state became the first state in the country to adopt a "top two" primary election system, and now Oregon voters will decide on November 4th whether their state will follow.

Ballot Box reports that Oregon political leaders are opposed to the process, but that Oregon voters are notoriously contrary and just might vote in favor because of that.

In a "top two" primary, voters are allowed to vote for one candidate in any particular race. The top two vote getters, regardless of party, go on to the general election. Therefore, it is possible to have two Democrats or two Republicans running against each other in the general.

NCSL's ballot initiative data base

Here's a very useful tool for folks interested in what's on the ballot nationwide. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has put together a user-friendly database that will sort ballot measures by state, topic, election, and year.

From there, it's easy to see what the hot button topics are for the general election in 2008. NCSL calls them "conservative leaning". They are:

Abortion - on the ballot in California, Colorado and South Dakota
Anti-affirmative action - on the ballot in Colorado and Nebraska
Immigration - on the ballot in Arizona, California, Missouri and Oregon
Same sex marriage - on the ballot in Arizona, California and Florida
Ban on adoption by gay couples - on the ballot in Arizona

There are a number of ballot initiatives that will impact state legislatures. They are:

Arizona - Proposition 300, Recommendation on Legislative Salaries. Provides an increase from $24,000 to $30,000.

Arkansas - Proposed Amendment 2, Provides that appropriation bills are valid for one fiscal year, requires General Assembly to meet in Fiscal Session in even-numbered years, sets length of sessions.

Colorado - Referendum L, Reduces age qualification to serve in the General Assembly from 25 to 21.

Louisiana - Amendment 2, Constitutional amendment providing for the convening of a special session of the legislature.

Louisiana - Amendment 3, Constitutional amendment providing for temporary succession of the the powers and duties of a legislator who is called to serve active duty in the armed forces of the United States.

Nevada - Question 4, Amends the sales and use tax of 1955 to authorize the legislature to comply with federal law or interstate agreements.

New Mexico - Amendment 3, Constitutional amendment providing for the requirement that cabinet level heads whose appointment is subject to confirmation by the state senate, be reconfirmed at the beginning of each term of the governor.

South Dakota - Amendment G, Constitutional amendment repealing reimbursement restrictions for travel by legislators to and from a legislative session.

South Dakota - Amendment I, Constitutional amendment providing for a maximum of 40 legislative days a year.

South Dakota - Amendment J, Constitutional amendment eliminating term limits for legislators.

South Dakota - Initiated Measure 10, Adoption of South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act.

Utah - Amendment C, Constitutional amendment to change the start of the legislative session from the third Monday in January to the fourth Monday in January, and exclude federal holidays in the 45 day limit on annual general sessions.

This is grim

Hawaii media has made much of the fact, and rightly so, that there are so many uncontested races for the 2008 election. If you think Hawaii is bad, consider this from Arkansas. According to Ballot Access News, in the upcoming November election, 17 out of 18 Arkansas Senate seats have only one person on the ballot. Only one district has a contested race, between a Democrat and a Republican. This is a startling statistic no matter what state you come from.

The "C" word

Already? A construction crew is at work wiring up the House chamber for Primary election night. I'm told it's a massive wiring job for electricity, telephones and computers. Ian's post today reminds me that I need to clarify a thing or two now that we are in the campaign season. The Hawaii House Blog is a legislative blog using state employees on state time using state resources. While we work in a political environment and have a keen interest in the races, we can't and won't be doing any posts related to campaigning. When we post something for or about the Legislature or the House members, it must be related to their legislative positions and activity, or something happening at the State Capitol, but nothing related to campaign activity. If you see anything questionable, please alert us.

Permanently Absent

Jerry Burris writes a thoughtful column in today's Advertiser on the up and down sides of absentee voting. In a nutshell, it's a good thing that Hawaii's dismal voting turnout has risen slightly thanks to the convenience of absentee voting, but Burris notes that some voters may turn in their ballots too early, and lots could happen (and has) in the last days of a campaign that just might affect a voting decision. Jerry filed his story from Portland, Oregon, a state that votes 100% by mail.

The legislature this year made it easier to vote by absentee ballot. SB156 allows a voter to request an absentee ballot on a permanent basis, not just for the current Primary and General Election, eliminating the need to send a new request for each election cycle. The Governor vetoed the bill, click here for Gov's message, stating that the new law would make the process vulnerable to abuses. The legislature overrode the veto in special session.

A quick check on Oregon voter turnout turned up this story from Oregonian. It includes a stunning fact that while Oregon expected the highest voter turnout in 20 years in their primary last May, between 50% and 60%, that number doesn't come close to the numbers that showed up to vote in 1968. 1968!

In 1968, the Presidential Primary was a race between Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy, and the turnout was 72%.

According this SB story in 2006, Hawaii had the lowest voter turnout at 48.6% for the 2004 election, with 20.7% voting absentee. With record numbers turning out for the Democratic caucus this past February, here's hoping that these numbers rise significantly.

National Popular Vote

Rep. Tom Brower (District 23 - Waikiki, Ala Moana) wrote an opinion piece that appeared this morning in the Honolulu Advertiser. Here's the link. Rep. Brower favors the National Popular Vote and believes that the vote should reflect the will of the people. He concludes:

"As a voter interested in encouraging and protecting democracy, I see a national popular vote as a rational, responsible means to achieve that end.

As a legislator, I am morally compelled to advocate for the best system to reflect the will of the people."