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CHRISTOPHER J. Yu EN HILO LAGOON CENTRE,SUITE 108 101 AUPUNI STREET \ LAW HAWAII 96720 ATTORNEY AT LAW TEL.(808) 935-4429 FAX(808) 935-1844 • July 2 , 1990 Hawaii County Charter Commission 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 235 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Dear Commission Members: The purpose of this letter is to serve as a brief introduction to some of the agenda items to be considered at the July 11 Commission meeting. Agenda Item 5: Nonpartisan election of prosecuting attorney. The prosecuting attorney has proposed that the election for the office be nonpartisan: i.e. that there be no party designation. If the Charter Commission decides to adopt this suggestion, we must also decide on an electoral format. In the City and County of Honolulu, which has a nonpartisan election for prosecuting attorney, all voters who come to the polls at the primary are given a ballot for prosecuting attorney. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes (which may happen if 411 there are more than two candidates) , the two candidates with the most votes compete in the general. If one candidate gets a majority in the primary (as did Keith Kaneshiro in the 1988 election) , he or she is elected outright. The objection sometimes raised to this procedure is that many voters only vote at the general. The alternative is to have a single election at the general in which the candidate with the most votes wins. In this case, if there are more than two candidates, the winner may not have a majority. Agenda Item 6: Council voting. The purpose of this agenda item is simply to ratify the proposed Charter language implementing the Commission's decision at the June 1 meeting that the number of votes needed remains the same even if there are vacancies on the Council. Please see attachment "B" to my letter of June 20, 1990. Agenda Item 7: The Commission had not finished deciding whether to establish some kind of special procedure for clear ballot language on initiatives. Please see my letter of June 20, 1990 for the California procedure. Also, the Commission must ratify the language for the time in which signatures are valid. Please see attachment "A" to my letter of June 20, 1990. Agenda Item 8 : Board of Ethics. On confidentiality, please • see my letter of May 22, 1990. On "standards of conduct, " please see Fred Giannini's letter of April 26, 1990. The present EXHIBIT A 915