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. - • • • December 27, 1989 MEMO TO: Gore Hokama, Council Chairman 1' R 0 X: Daryl T. Tamamoto, County Clerk f.S? • SUBJECT: VOTING INPORMATION ON 1988 CHARTER AMENDMENTS The attached is provided for your information and use during the Council 's deliberations on proposed Charter amendments for the 1990 elections. Because only a majority of votes cast is required to approve a Charter amendment, all nine Charter amendments in the. 1988 General Election were approved. It is interesting to note that • had the requirement been a majority of the voter turnout, only three of the' nine amendments would have been approved. If the requirement was a majority of registered voters, none of the amendments would have been approved. The number of blank votes on the Charter amendments ranged from a low of 5,624 blank votes to a high of 8,909 blank votes. On two of the Charter amendments,• the total number of blank votes actually exceeded the total no votes. . Based on our . observations and comments received, the reasons for • the significant number of blank votes were primarily twofold. • The first reason is that voters did not understand the ballot questions. Since any proposed amendment must be phrased in the form of a - question to require a "yes" or mno" response from the voter, it is often difficult to convey the intent or meaning of the proposed amendment. Although we did provide a handout that included the intent or purpose of the proposed . amendments, we were unable to provide reasons for the proposed amendments- or their justifications, because none were available. The second-- reason for the number of blank votes was apparently due- to the number of questions on the ballots. For every regular voter in Maui County, five. ballots were issued and a sixth ballot was issued- to ORA voters. Of those ballots, three contained a total of 16 questions, 7 on proposed amendments to the State Constitution and 9 on proposed amendments . to the- County Charter. Voters were either overwhelmed by the number of questions to vote on or simply did • .- cjli,