CHC 1979-08-14 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

MR. SCHUTTE: There are, roughly, 8, 000 voters from district #4, and 13+ thousand voters from district #2. MR. CADINHA: How many voters are there in all the other districts? MR. SCHUTTE : Hamakua has 6+ thousand , which is district #3. District #1 has 8+ thousand. District 44 has 8+ thousand. District #2, which comprises Hilo, has 13+ thousand. So, it ' s not really a split half-and-half situation. If you want to cut it in half, you're talking about a man-and-a-half, if it were cut even. MR. YAMADA: We are also proposing that the districts be the same as the representative districts which is apportioned every ten years , I believe, by the State Legislature. MR. SCHUTTE : If we are going to split up the Hilo district half-and-half, it would be less than what the other districts independently would be. MR. CADINHA: I understand that but you ' re also looking at 13 , 000 voters having an option over the majority, or over 4 elected officials and the rest of the island only voting for three. That ' s my question of fairness. MR. SCHUTTE : Yes , I understand that. What I 'm saying is that if we were to break up Hilo and split it in half, each half would have less than the total of the other districts individually. The other districts have 8,000. You 're looking at 6 , 500 for each district of Hilo, it it was cut in half. MR. TRULSON: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Yamada, as I understand the 5-2. . .in other words, we have 4 representative districts. Of the 4 districts on the island, one would be able to vote for a majority on the council. The other 3 wouldn ' t. Is that correct? District #2 would have a majority vote of the 7 member council, right? MR. ;YAMADA: They will have two votes. MR. TRULSON: Two votes for the district and 2 for at-large. That ' s four. The other district has one for the district and 2 at-large. . .three. The districts #1 , #3 , and #4 don ' t have a majority vote of the council membership. MR. YAMADA: Yes , but please remember that even today the State Legislature, the same thing happens on the representatives. That the Hilo district can vote for two while the rest of the districts, the 1st , 3rd and 4th can vote for one representative in the State Legislature. MR. TRULSON : I understand why there are two in district #2, I 'm just getting to the point like as Mr. Cadinha says about the fairness. Maybe it is fair and maybe it isn ' t. I 'm not making that judgment but the thing is three districts do not have a majority vote. -22-