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Report Title: <br />Voting; Vote by Mail <br />Description: <br />Establishes a Vote By Mail election program for all federal, <br />state, and county primary, general, and special elections in the <br />County of Hawaii. Makes appropriation for a pilot program. <br />THE SENATE S.B. <br />nI <br />TWENTY- LEGISLATURE, 2009 V . B . N O . <br />STATE OF HAWAII <br />A BILL FOR AN ACT <br />relating to voting. <br />BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF <br />HAWAII: <br />SECTION 1. In the 2004 presidential election, 19,117 (21.8%) voters cast absentee ballots in <br />Hawaii County. In the 2008 presidential election, a record number of voters cast absentee <br />ballots (29.1%) in Hawaii County. This trend demonstrates that more voters are finding Vote <br />By Mail to be an easier option than voting at the polls on the day of the election. <br />Other states, such as Oregon (entire state) and Colorado (37 of 39 counties), have used Vote By <br />Mail as the exclusive method for casting ballots. From their experience with Vote By Mail, these <br />states have found that: <br />(a) Vote By Mail increases voter participation because it makes it easier for people to <br />vote; and <br />(b) Vote By Mail increases voter convenience because weather, natural disasters, <br />driving, cost of gasoline, work, child care, illness, and long lines are no longer an <br />issue; and <br />(c) Vote By Mail increases confidence in the accuracy and fairness of election results <br />because there is as a paper ballot that is verifiable and may be audited; and <br />EXHIBIT "A-1" <br />1 <br />