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<br /> Page 1 of 3 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Murashige, Laura <br /> <br /> From: Peter Hain [hainp004@hawaii.rr.com] <br /> Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 4:32 PM <br /> To: council testimony <br /> Cc: cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us <br /> <br /> Subject: Resolution 474-06 <br /> <br /> I am in complete agreement with the sentiments of Marshal Blann: <br /> <br /> Aloha County Council, <br /> One of the things the USA prides itself on is the concept of the <br /> free <br /> and fair election . I was therefore very unhappy to find that Hawaii <br /> County has the elections office with 12 full time Mall employees in a <br /> $103,000/annum <br /> high visibility retail location with stated purpose of registering <br /> voters <br /> and increasing <br /> absentee voting in Hilo, but with similar programs nowhere else in <br /> the <br /> county. <br /> Our tax dollars are being used solely to enhance the voting power of <br /> Hilo <br /> vs. the <br /> rest of the county, rather than as part of a county wide voter <br /> enhancement <br /> program. <br /> I estimate the salaries and overhead at around $1,000,000/ annum. <br /> If in the future, a Council person from Hilo were to run for Mayor, <br /> the <br /> question <br /> could be raised as to whether he engineered this voter registration <br /> program for personal <br /> benefit. Let us not put the County Government in the awkward position <br /> of <br /> anyone raising <br /> such questions. <br /> We do note that in the primary election just passed, the Kuhio <br /> location <br /> had seven <br /> times the absentee vote of the average of the other 4 polls; a 600% <br /> increase! Clearly <br /> this is not a fair election, and renewal of this lease will make <br /> results <br /> even more uneven, <br /> possibly subjecting the county government to complaints to t,e~UU <br /> Comm. No. <br /> Ref. Tot 1 g 2006 <br /> 10/16/2006 Ref. Date <br />