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• <br /> me that there would be less voter confusion if the proposed <br /> amendments were published together. The council could prepare a <br /> • digest of its amendment, which could be incorporated into the <br /> newspaper publication and the pamphlet. Because the complete <br /> text of the council's proposed amendments must be published, it <br /> might be a good idea to also publish the complete text of the <br /> Commission's amendments. I have had preliminary discussions with • <br /> the county clerk about coordinating the publication and <br /> publicity, and I am fairly confident- that we will be able to' work <br /> together effectively to avoid voter confusion as much as <br /> possible. <br /> The Commission had also`- discussed the possibility of a <br /> mailing to voters. The pamphlet could be the basis for such a <br /> mailing. I have been told that the cost of a mailing to all <br /> voters would be about $6, 000 • for mailing alone. <br /> The Commission must decide how the various proposals will be <br /> presented to the voters. It is legally permitted to lump <br /> together a number of different subjects into a single proposed <br /> amendment. In Kahalekai v. Doi, 60 Haw. 324, 337 (1978) the <br /> Hawaii Supreme court considered a challenge to certain <br /> constitutional amendments based on, among other factors, the fact <br /> that one of the ballot questions contained two separate subjects. <br /> The court held that a single constitutional amendment could cover <br /> more than one subject or purpose, as long as there was no express <br /> requirement in the law that it encompass only one subject. The <br /> same should be true for charter amendments; there is no express <br /> requirement in the charter that the individual amendments consist <br /> of a single subject each. <br /> You will note. that in the "ballot" I prepared, there are a <br /> number of different subjects which are joined in a single <br /> amendment (Proposals 8 and 9) . The alternative is either to have <br /> very many ballot questions (possibly in excess of twenty-five) or <br /> to choose not besubmitto the voters many of the changes which <br /> the Commission haspreviously voted to recommend. <br /> If we do have ballot questions which encompass a number of <br /> subjects, we must decide how much information to give on the <br /> ballot itself. The. draft ballot I prepared attempts to give a <br /> brief description of each change. This results in a fairly <br /> lengthy ballot. The alternative is to. simply say something like <br /> "Should Proposal 8 be adopted? Please refer- to the -Ballot <br /> Pamphlet for a summary of -Proposal 8 . " <br /> • The division of subjects into various proposals which. is <br /> contained in the attachments, to this letter is only one of the <br /> possible ways of grouping them together. Based on the previous <br /> discussions we have had, I believe there is a consensus among <br /> the commissioners that the amendments which might be more <br /> controversial, or which propose more extensive- changes to the <br /> • <br /> -2- <br /> 12a. <br />