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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0810.003 2010-2012SCOTT T. NAGO CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER STATE OF HAWAII OFFICE OF ELECTIONS 802 LEHUA AVENUE PEARL CITY, HAWAII 96782 www.hawaii.govlelections August 20, 2012 Dear Chair Yagong and Council Members: PMGou.. SUM ilit; Co AA it4 . I10 COUNTY CLERIC COUNTY OF HAWAII CEIVED Time I: Pay By,, Date I am writing to provide you our comments regarding the August 20, 2012 report by your clerk responding to our August 15, 2012 Elections Report. In our Elections Report we noted, in part, the following: What my staff witnessed was poor planning, implementation, and leadership by the County Clerk. Despite this, the hard working staff and volunteers did their best under the circumstances and were able to get through the election. Essentially, the County Clerk on election day is supposed to be like a field general with a plan of attack, who acts confidently, and has the support of his or her troops. The County Clerk was in no way, shape, or form that type of leader. For example, the issue regarding the late opening of polls. While irregularities may happen on election day, as we are dealing with hundreds of stipended volunteers, and many moving parts, the County Clerk lacked the ability to definitively articulate the nature of the problem to the Office of Elections or the public. This resulted in the need for the Governor to conduct triage, in the form of an emergency proclamation, extending polling place hours, based on the limited information that she provided the Attorney General. Specifically, the County Clerk at no specific time had a handle on how many polling places out of the forty in the county opened late. The election proclamation issued by the Governor refers to over half of the polling places in the County of Hawaii had not opened on time. The County Clerk initially reported three precincts had opened late, later on we were told by the Attorney General's Office that they had been told twenty five by the County Clerk, and then later in Comm. N Ref. To: Present Ref. DateAUV 0 1U,Z. 8/0.3 Chair Yagong and Council Members August 20, 2012 Page 2 the day we were told by the County Clerk that there were at least eleven but that she was still looking into it. The public's confidence in our elections was rocked by this election proclamation, which normally is only issued when a natural disaster or emergency occurs. The Governor did not lightly issue this proclamation and under the circumstances, he arguably had no other choice than to protect the rights of the voters, if the County Clerk's general representations to Attorney General were correct. Following the election, we waited for the County Clerk to follow up on her representation that she would follow up and get a more definite answer as to what the scope of the problem was. We heard nothing on Sunday or Monday from her regarding any further details. A statewide meeting, in Hilo, was scheduled for August 14, 2012 (Tuesday) with all the county clerks to debrief about the Primary Election. During the meeting, the County Clerk still could not answer the question of how many polls had opened late. Additionally, she had no answers to why there had been problems with delivering supplies in West Hawaii to the polling places on election day. Her answers were essentially that she was still looking into it. In the end, we did not get the responses we expected from a county clerk, who had been entrusted with elections within her county. Having said that, given that the public is asking and the fact that we needed to know what the scope of the opening of polls problem was, we immediately conducted our own investigation. Specifically, we took custody of the record books for all forty polling places in the County of Hawaii. We also, immediately began calling every precinct chairperson in the County of Hawaii to get answers, with calls being made that evening and the following morning. The result of that investigation, which was completed the following morning, after reviewing the records books and the notes from the telephone calls, was that a total of thirteen polling places out of forty polling places opened late. However, of those thirteen polling places, four opened between 7:01 a.m. and 7:03 a.m., five opened no later 7:30 Chair Yagong and Council Members August 20, 2012 Page 3 a.m., two opened no later than 8:00 a.m., and the final two opened at 8:40 a.m. A copy of the spreadsheet showing the exact opening times for each polling place is attached. Office of Elections Report at pages 4 and 5 (Emphasis added). In reviewing the County Clerk's August 20, 2012 report we again find the same type of issues which have been a common occurrence. For example, the County Clerk claims in her report the following: Without the election record books, it has been difficult for me to determine the exact opening time of polling places on Hawai'i island. At mid-day on Auqust 12, 2012, the first action that I took to look into the election day irregularities was to perform a review of the precinct cans, supply boxes and other election related materials that were returned to the Hawaii County building following the election. I noticed that the record books were missing. The record books are used to record the events of the day at each precinct, including the opening time of the precinct. As the record books were missing, I was unable to verify the opening times of each precinct by book. County Clerk Report at pages 2 and 3 (emphasis added) Sadly, her version of events is incorrect. Specifically, August 12, 2012 (Sunday) was the day after the election. The County Clerk had custody of the state record books at that time. The statewide debriefing was held in Hilo on August 14, 2012 (Tuesday). The County Clerk's answers were insufficient at that meeting. After the meeting, as reported in our report we took custody of the record books at that time. Specifically, we spoke to the County Clerk's staff member Lehua Iopa and asked where the record books were. We were provided a box and with the help of staff member Sharon Takata we wrapped up the box and took it with us. Additionally, the County Clerk was personally told by me that we were taking custody of the record books. We even walked by the County Clerk on our way out with the box that her staff had provided us with the record books. We utilized the record books in combination with calling precinct chairs to determine when the polls opened. A review of the County Clerk's report appears to reflect that the County Clerk quickly read through our report but did not grasp the timeline and instead sought to blame our Chair Yagong and Council Members August 20, 2012 Page 4 office for not having the record books when in fact you had them until after the August 14, 2012 debriefing. In fact, it is not clear if the County Clerk's reading of our report caused her to realize what a record book is and that it is part of the operation of every precinct. Her staff was aware of what a record book was, as they provided them to us, but it is not clear if the County Clerk ever understood until she read our report. The County Clerk's report, in general, is simply a poor attempt to rehabilitate her operation of elections within the County of Hawaii. We have always been available to provide assistance to the Office of the County Clerk and the County Clerk has never taken the opportunity to avail herself of our offers. In fact the County Clerk has gone on record numerous times stating everything is under control. Likewise, the County Clerk has never directly provided this office with any recommendations to improve the County of Hawaii's operations. To date the County Clerk's communication with us is still sorely lacking. It is my hope that the County Clerk will be more focused on avoiding these problems in the future as opposed to raising issues not related to moving forward and solving the problems encountered in the Primary Election. Very truly yours, SCOTT T. NAGO Chief Election Officer c. Jamae Kawauchi, County Clerk Election Commission