HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0810.008 2010-2012 PECIAL MTG
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Testimony of Stephen D. "Steve Kawena" Lopez
Councilmembers, ' ` p'' 39
I am reluctantly before you on this matter only because I have been prohibited from speaking to
the media yet my good name has been compromised in the media and in my community. I've no
recourse but to bring this to your attention as the only outlet for me to correct the record. I will
no longer remain silent to the media who states my name or position with incorrect information.
This testimony is the only complete record of my activities. My name has appeared in the public
domain by media outlets (exhibit A) regarding my involvement and statements made about me
surrounding election events in West Hawai'i on election day August 11, 2012.
What I read was shocking, grossly incorrect and demoralizing. I have endeavored to be a
supporter of the Clerk with strict allegiance to the County Council and I've been characterized, in
the words of others,to be a scapegoat for the problems on election day. I am here to state that
the media reports of my involvement are grossly incorrect and at best misleading in reports as
recently as August 17, 2012.
In one report it was stated that I made a major decision to take materials to Waikoloa first instead
of precinct materials destined closer. This is a gross mistruth and perhaps a libelous statement. I
had no knowledge of the purpose nor contents of the 3 tin cans left at WHCC and was not aware
that I was responsible for the deployment until I heard it on a blogtalkradio podcast (Kona Beer
Party, August 14, 2012). Since my appointment to Deputy County Clerk I have never had the
latitude of independent decision making. All my activities are at the direction of the Clerk. This
statement is wrong and absurd in my working environment.
The only shred of truth in all this is that I was labeled as "inexperienced". I whole heartedly admit
to this and will add "ignorant" of the election process and language. How can anyone believe that
an inexperienced and untrained manager would be responsible for such a complex operation?
Clearly understanding my work environment, I characterize myself as a "good soldier" and Marine
Corps training to follow a direct order. I followed all orders to the best of my ability believing the
direction knew much more than I. I certainly had no training nor information to the contrary and
could make no assumption how to act differently.
My detailed chronicle of the days before and after election day are submitted as written
testimony. I remain available during these proceeding should you have interest to ask me any
question to aid in your understanding of the truth.
Comm. NA7 !' 0
Ref. To: r
Ref. Date AUG 2 Q 2017
To help set the stage for recanting the events I am compelled to state that at no time was my role
as Deputy County Clerk (DCC) related to my activities with elections on this date nor in the days
leading to the election. My duties as DCC are very strictly defined to a narrow set of
responsibilities with no room for independent decision making. My role with elections as DCC has
been limited to signing certificates of residency usually for purposes of proving residency for
admission to UH and on one day being assigned to the Hilo Elections Office as the onsite
supervisor while the Clerk and Elections Administrator went to Oahu on elections business. I was
however directed to assist elections simply due to manpower needs. At West Hawai'i Civic Center
(WHCC) I was the designated "elections clerk" by default as the only person in the office to
provide counter assistance and at other times my involvement in Hilo was limited to sorting
absentee ballots,observing the absentee walk-in process in Hilo to offer input on process flow and
security, oversee the absentee walk-in process in Kona, which I prepared the setup on my own
initiative, and to quickly(Thursday,August 9) react to ballot and equipment storage needs at
WHCC.
My testimony surrounds the days immediately prior to and after Saturday,August 11, 2012 and
are to the best of my recollection.
As late as Thursday morning my direction was to be available Friday to be in Ka'u to "inspect"the
setup of precinct sites. I was to make my way north to visit each precinct as far as Waimea then
continue to Hilo where I was to assist the election process. The Clerk was to do the same on the
East side. I was awaiting instruction on what "inspect" meant. I reserved a county vehicle and
made reservations at the Naniloa Hotel in Hilo for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday).
On Thursday mid-afternoon I received an email from Clerk Kawauchi that I was to remain in Kona
and to arrange for ballot storage and their security. There was no communication as to my duties
on election day.
On Friday afternoon I received an email from Sharon Takata, administrative support for Clerk
Kawauchi, to let her know when I receive an email attachment titled "Trouble Shooter Guide".
She didn't know anymore but it seemed intuitive that my duties would be to serve in this capacity.
Later that day I received a phone call from Sharon to ensure I had received the guide. I insisted,
rather strongly,to please find the Clerk and let her know that I have no idea what a trouble
shooter does,who do I work with,when I'm to do something and to whom. She called back to say
that Elton Nakagawa would call to train me in these duties. I did spend about 10 minutes on the
phone with Elton and the task seemed simple enough. I'm to be available by phone for the control
center to call me for dispatch to a precinct that may have issues where I could try to help and to
drop into those sites over the course of the day. The example given was if Miloli'i needed pens I
was to drive there to deliver pens. The wrinkle in all this was that I was given both routes
previously assigned to Odetta Shimotsu and Elton Nakagawa. In the schedule I pointed out that
this required me to be at the Kona Gym at 7:15PM for the rally point and at 7:45PM (times
approximate)to oversee the transfer of Miloli'i ballots and certain West Hawai'i ballots onto a Hilo
bound truck. This seemed to be an impossible schedule. He didn't have an answer.
Friday at WHCC was spent preparing a ballot storage area, greeting and setting the security guards
and receiving/securing precinct materials. Additionally, 4 trouble shooter sets of materials were
received leading me to believe that there would be 3 other trouble shooters. Elton had told me
the day before that "Jeff" would come in Saturday morning to assist me. I tried to get information
to assist me (bus drivers, DC teams, control contacts and all their phone numbers). I only got a
portion of the information requested.
On Saturday I arrived on site at 4AM as directed when the day was to begin. I received a call about
4:15AM from control telling me that I need to check out the precinct materials to the DC's
(distribution and collection) using the clipboards to be found in a box and that experienced DC's
would help me figure out what I was to do; still, no "Jeff' nor anyone else came to assist. There
were 5 DC team's who began arriving at 4:30AM. Only 2 had experience and the other 3 had not
been to training and were asking me what they were to do. I had them stand aside and watch as
the 2 others helped me figure out the process and to ask them of their duties.
I received a call from Clerk Kawauchi at 4:52AM asking how things were going to which I replied
we were seemingly doing fine. She asked to let her know when all the DC's had been dispatched.
I called her at 5:26AM that the DC's had been dispatched. It was then that she asked me if I had
materials for Waikoloa and after some deciphering of how to identify them I found the material.
She told me that these were dropped off in Kona by mistake and should have been delivered to
Waimea. Clerk told me I needed to get going to deliver these to Waikoloa right away. I told her I
had several ballot boxes marked "R" and 3 tin cans. She told me the R's were reserve ballots and
should have gone with the DC's. I offered to lock up everything and head to Waikoloa but she said
with no security guard (leaving at 6AM) I needed to put everything in the van and take it all with
me. No comment on the tin cans. I left WHCC at about 6:15AM. 30 minutes in route I was called
by control that Kona Palisades did not have their voter roll books. I had to ask what that was and
what did it look like. It was a "red book" which I had no recollection of having seen anything like
that. Control thought that it may be in one of the tin cans in my van. I told her my ETA to
Palisades was probably an hour. I arrived at Waikoloa at 7:05AM and assisted them to setup a
phone and call control. Elton called me to have them call in because control didn't have their
phone number. I left Waikoloa about 7:20AM.
Enroute I was called by control that Kona Vistas and Kahakai Elementary didn't have their voter
roll books. While driving I couldn't validate what I had but I did have 3 sealed tin cans. I arrived at
Palisades approximately 8AM and called control that I had their tin can and one each for the other
2 sites (translated from precinct numbers). I proceeded to Kahakai Elementary then was at Kona
Vistas within 10 minutes. My recollection is that I arrived at Kona Vistas about 8:30AM.
While enroute doing the above I received a call from control that corrections to the voter roll for
St. Benedicts's Church and Ho'okena School had been in the precinct materials delivered to Miloli'l
and I was directed to go there and retrieve them. At this point I drove to Miloli'i then delivered to
those sites. By this time it was close to mid-day and I went home for lunch and to recharge my
county cell phone. During this time I got a call from the Clerk asking if I knew of anyone named
"Jeff"that was trouble shooting. I relayed what Elton told me but that "Jeff' never showed. She
told me someone was at Kahakai School announcing themselves as their trouble shooter and that I
needed to go and check this out. No one there knew of what I was talking about which I relayed to
the Clerk.
Sometime during that day the Clerk asked me if the 3 tin cans were left by the precinct captains or
if we had just failed to check them out. I could not answer as there was no paper trail to check.
The log sheets did not have the seal numbers of the cans as did the ballot boxes.
The rest of my day was spent circulating among the West Hawai'i precincts on my list to check in
and ensure they were doing ok. The only need was Kahakai School who needed more security
envelopes. I visited the WHCC ballot storage room to collect the balance of supplies (cardboard
boxes and 3 trouble shooter kits), checked into the office to look for faxes, check for any email
and visited the WHCC Building G precinct.
In nearly all cases of my precinct visits I was asked for payroll forms and why the precinct captains
didn't get their captain materials earlier. There were regular complaints of phones not working or
being on hold with control for long periods or not having calls returned. I had no answer but to
have them call control. In some cases they didn't have a number for control so I gave them 961-
8277 and zero out on the message. Someone would answer or keep trying;that was working for
me.
It was on my visits to the precincts I learned that poll hours had been extended 90 minutes. We all
thought it might be a joke. I was never informed of this until I called control about 5:15PM to ask
of this and then ask if anyone had contacted the busses and the DC teams. I was met with "good
question". DC teams and the busses arrived at WHCC at 6PM and didn't know about the
extension. I stayed with them until about 7:15PM when I went home for dinner. At about 8:15PM
I was enroute to Miloli'i expecting that was the higher priority than meeting teams at Kona Gym.
Clerk Kawauchi called me while enroute and told me that I didn't need to go to Mlloli'i,that a
team was coming from Hilo and would take care of the transfer. I was to go immediately to the
Kona Gym to oversee the collection of DC materials and upload of voting results. At about 11PM I
called and left a message for Clerk that mission was accomplished and results were successfully
uploaded.
There was no activity on Sunday.
On Monday,the clerk called to ask if I knew anything about 3 missing supply boxes. She suspected
they may be at Ho'okena School or Miloli'i. She told me to go to the school and investigate. I
phoned back saying there were no boxes but the e-Scan machine had been picked up and the
voting booths were still there. A phone call to Gordon Tokeshi of the warehouse told me there
was a driver enroute to pickup these materials. Because of furlough day he couldn't get into the
offices to identify the missing boxes. I went back to the office for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday afternoon, Chair Yagong called me into his office to ask me my version of what
happened regarding late precinct openings in West Hawaii. I related the above specific to
Saturday and the direction I was given to load everything and promptly get to Waikoloa. We
discussed general characterizations of the overall problems and how we could solve them for the
general.
Later that evening I received calls from friends telling me to read bigislandchronical.com and
bigislandnewscenter.com to read that I was being made the scapegoat for the election problems.
What I read was incorrect, shocking and demoralizing to say the least.
In summary, I stand on my honor as a practicing Catholic gentleman and the history of service
across 3 council terms. I have no reason or interest to hide anything. Having never had any room
for independent thinking as DCC I was being a good soldier and doing as I was directed. My
allegiance is and has always been in support of the Hawai'i County Council.
At this writing there has been no communication to discuss the details of my activities on election
day nor relative to the late openings. I heard there was a meeting on Wednesday, August 15,
called for Precinct Chiefs at WHCC to debrief to which I was not informed to attend.
Again I offer this testimony to correct the record and provide a detailed chronicle of my activities
as the one who "lived"this experience in and around the primary election of August 11, 2012. I
admit to being inexperienced and ignorant of elections processes and terminology but in all
respects I tried to provide assistance in any way I could always performing to the best of my
ability.
Steve "Kawena" Lopez
htbk-V
• By Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi refused to speak with Big Island Chronicle Thursday
afternoon,but spoke candidly about Saturday's Primary Election mess with the Kona Tea Party
at Boston Basil's on Thursday night.Kawauchi said she was"absolutely sure"she didn't want to
speak BIC at the Hilo Elections Division,moments before David Ross,of the Kona Tea Party,
arrived to pick her up and drive her from Hilo to Kona for the Tea Party event.
Ross,speaking to Tea Party attendees Tuesday night,recalled his interaction with BIC in the
Elections Division and how"amazed"the reporter was that he had"access"to the County Clerk.
BIC listened in on the Tea Party meeting via Blogtalk radio.Kawauchi spent a good deal of time
explaining her roles and duties as County Clerk before someone in the Kona audience interjected
with a request for her to"move along"and discuss the election.
Kawauchi spoke of the 700 people that participate in the elections process,how 499 of them are
at polling places,another 100 are in the counting center,and 40 are in the control center. Still .
more are in charge of delivery and collections and trouble shooting.Her day began at 3:30 a.m.
with"the launch of equipment,"she said.
"We did get off to a rought day. I'm still continuing to look into it,"she told the Kona Tea party.
The first issue,she said,was that land lines and cell phones that were tested and supposed to be
in working order were not.As a result,polling places didn't check in properly through the"Ask
Ed Computer System,"which apparently is attached to the phones.
"Because there was no communication with the precincts,there was a lot of trouble indicating
the polls were open. I'm continuing to follow up with the chair persons,"Kawauchi said,
referring to the precinct chairs. She told Tea Party attendees that there are 40 precinct chairs and
she has spoke with most of them—"I think I have five left."She later rescinded that statement,
after BIC,through questioning via the phone,pointed out that Nago had told reporters earlier that
she had not spoken with anyone yet as part of her investigation.Kawauchi said she spoke with
"some precinct chairs,"and then further corrected herself,stating she had talked with one
precinct chair and she assigned staff in the Hilo Elections Division to speak with the others.
Kawauchi explained that election materials,namely precinct cans and ballot boxes,had been
stored in Naalehu,Hilo,Kona and Waimea.
"Deployment went out as scheduled,"Kawauchi said,before adding that the deputy county clerk
indicated he didn't think delivery and collection workers"launched"until about 5:30 a.m. or 6
a.m. "I need to debrief with them," she said.
"That problem didn't right itself,"Kawauchi added."The deputy County Clerk bad to deploy the
materials that didn't get taken by precinct workers.Timing was critical. There was a major
decision made to take the materials to Waikoloa first,when Kona Palisades and two others were
c1ose7..71i-af was a e-nTieat factor there-She said.-She noted that that as 1_e depu y Coll*
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Stan Mann,in the Kona audience,questioned why she had taken 40 minutes to cover something
that could have been stated in five seconds,and wondered why there was no"back plan."He
noted that a"simple solution could end up being 2,000 pages."
Kawauchi responded that this isn't simply a matter of failure to have a proper back plan."Teams
deployed late."
Kawauchi responded to BIC's inquiry about the phones not being programmed properly saying,
"The task was a staff person's responsibility that was told to me had been completed and wasn't
completed."
A member o the Kona audience noted that he had been listening to Kawauchi's presentation and
"not once have you said the failure of the election was your responsibility."He spoke of election
procedures in New Hampshire,and how preparations are made and procedures are tested a week
prior to the elections.
"Not once have you said anything is your fault."
"I did say I'm very sorry for the fact there were problems on election day. For that I say,I'm
sorry,"Kawauchi said.
She then noted that elections are both the responsibility of the county and the state.
"As chief elections officer I did say I'm responsible,"before reiterating that both the county and
state work together on elections.
"I can attribute responsibility for failing to me.I can say I'm sorry and I will to take
responsibility,"Kawauchi said, adding,"We share the responsibility with the state."
• Three days after Hawaii County's Primary Election that made statewide news for its mishaps,
Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi had what Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago described as
a"productive"meeting with a dozen State Office of Elections officials. The meeting was held in
a conference room of the State Building this afternoon and was part of a typical debriefing
process that occurs after every election. State Office of Elections officials visit all of the island
communities to meet with the county clerks and conduct a post-election audit. Big Island was the
first stop this go-around in light of the problems occurred on the Primary Election here,resulting
in the governor's proclamation for polling places to open late.
Nago said Kawauchi could not tell officials any details as to how many polling places didn't
open on time.He said Kawauchi told him she had"reviewed paper documents in her office"and
intended to start interviewing people on Wednesday.The State Office of Elections officials
asked that Kawauchi share her findings with them in the next couple of days.
IKawauchi did tell state Office of Elections officials that she spoke with Deputy County Clerk 1
colt w'ena Lopez regarding problems tit went on at the West'Hawaii Civic Center. But
Nago wasn't clear on what exactly were the problems. Council Mai-r a. f5c nirdc Yagong later
Tuesday, speaking on behalf of Kawauchi who refused to speak to Big Island Chronicle in the
Hilo Elections Division,said there was a mixup in the delivery and collection of precinct cans
and ballot boxes.
"It was a domino effect that was the real killer,"Yagong said of the problems associated with
Hawaii County Primary Election Saturday. The Waikoloa precinct can was supposed to be
delivered to the Waimea police station,but it wasn't there when the delivery and collections
temporary workers arrived there early Saturday,Yagong explained. The precinct can had been
delivered to the West Hawaii Civic Center with the precinct cans bound for Kona polling places.
Compounded with that Waikoloa can misdelivery,delivery and collection temporary workers
who loaded up precinct cans early Saturday at the West Hawaii Civic Center failed to pick up
three precinct cans assigned to Kona polling places,Yagong said.He noted there are some
precincts that get more than one precinct can. Lopez realized he had to deliver the Waikoloa can,
but didn't want to leave the three other cans me-n Tor Kbiia previnc�sianateiidi t the WeST
Hawaii Civic Center. He made his way to Waikoloa first then,on the way bask toward Kona,
dropped the Kona Palisades can off before heading to Kahakai and Kona Vista, Yagong said.
State Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago with Peter Sur,of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
If the Waikoloa can had been delivered properly to Waimea,the remaining three cans could have
easily been delivered to the Kona precincts in time for the polling places to open on time,the
Council Chairman said.
Yagong questioned the governor's proclamation stating half of the polling places opened late
Saturday. But he couldn't say for certain exactly how many polling places opened late—other
than the three in Kona and one in Waikoloa that Lopez had detailed for him.He said Kawauchi
is expected to provide those details in a report to council members at their special meeting on
Monday.
"The whole pretense is that we make sure we have accurate information to the general public and
the media,"Yagong said. "We also need to know what have to do to take correction action so
there are no mistakes for the general election."
Nago,meanwhile,said one of the issues discussed during Kawauchi's meeting with state Office
of Elections officials this afternoon was the fact that precinct cans were packed the night before
in Hilo.In Honolulu,he said,precinct cans are packed four or five days before the election. The
precinct cans,he noted,are packed with poll books and record books—all the sensitive
materials associated with the election. They are to be sealed with a"unique"type of wiring that
requires wire cutters to be broken as an indicator that they have been tampered with.
Nago also noted that there were"telecommunications"problems at Big Island polling places,
according to Kawauchi.He explained that all polling places are assigned cell phones that are to
be pre-programmed for the Control Center to be on speed dial.Precinct workers are trained to
push 2 on these phones in order to connect with control center,which,on this island was located
at the Hilo Elections Division.Apparently,those phones weren't preprogrammed.
It was"errors compounded by errors,"Nago said.He spoke with BIC amongst other reporters
gathered outside the Stating Building conference room.And he also spoke with BIC at the
County Building,outside the Hilo Election Division,shortly before the end of the business day.
Nago hasn't seen a problem like Hawaii County's Primary Election in his tenure with elections,
and he has been with the state Office of Elections since 1998.
He noted that Lorraine Inouye has inquired with the state Office of Elections about a recount,,
and was informed that the state does not conduct automatic recounts. Inouye was informed she
would have to file a"Contest for Cause"with the Hawaii Supreme Court seeking a legal remedy,
whether that be a recount or an election re-do.
Nago said that in 1998 there was a statewide recount and audit by legislative order,as a result of
a"cloudy lens"on seven voting machines.
In 1996,then-Gov. Ben Cayetano ordered polling places to stay open late due to flooding.
"Nothing like this has ever happened,"Nago said.
Will Hawaii County be ready for the November election?
"She can only learn from her mistakes,"the Chief Elections Officer said."Hopefully she learned
from this. She appears to have.Appearances are one thing though."
Kawauchi, Yagong Disagree With Critical Report on Election f Big Island Now Page 1 of 2
County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi and her boss,County Council Chairman Dominic
Yagong,are disagreeing with the findings of a report issued Thursday by the state
Office of Elections that heavily criticized Kawauchi's handling of Saturday's primary
election.
Kawauchi and Yagong went further,with both saying that state election officials share
much of the blame for Saturday's problems.
The report by Chief Election Officer Scott Nago found that 13 of the 4o Big Island
precincts failed to open at 7 a.m.as dictated by state law,including five that opened at
7:30 a.m.or later.Two did not open until 8:40 a.m.
The delayed opening of some of the precincts prompted Gov.Neil Abercrombie to take
the unprecedented of extending voting by 90 minutes at all Big Island locations.
The report said that Nago on Saturday sent one of his veteran elections workers,
accompanied by a lawyer from the state attorney's general office,to the Big Island to
provide assistance.
"What my staff witnessed was poor planning,implementation and leadership by the
County Clerk,"Nago's report said.
However,while Saturday's irregularities"unnecessarily undermined the public's
confidence in our electoral system,"the report said they did not"rise to the level of
changing the election results."
In an email sent by Kawauchi to Honolulu media Thursday,she admitted that there
were errors committed Saturday,but said Nago's report blew the matter out of
proportion.
"I strongly disagree with the state Office of Elections and their assessment..."the
email said."Yes,there were errors that occurred on Primary Election Day.However
this is not a perfect system,mistakes will be made and i00%accuracy should not be
expected.
"Mr.Nago is being overly critical and he is failing to see that the big picture goal is to
get through the elections."
Her email went on to say that elections"require the cooperation of the state and
counties working together and not pointing fingers at each other."
Kawauchi's email also criticized Nago-for releasing the report to the media before
allowing her to comment on its contents.In an interview this morning,Yagong said
Nago did not even give Kawauchi an opportunity to see the report before it was
released to the public.
"This lack of communication on his part does not help to improve or address the
significant issues that Hawaii County and the State Office of Elections obviously need
to overcome to work together in partnership to run an election,"Kawauchi's email
said.
Ironically,since July 23,when she closed the Hilo election office to complete a review
of the voter list without informing Nago's office of the reason until that afternoon,
state elections officials have said Kawauchi is the one who has failed to communicate
with them.
State elections officials have cited several occasions when they asked Kawauchi if the
situation was under control and were told that it was.According to spokesman Rex
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Kawauchi,Yagong Disagree With Critical Report on Election I Big Island Now Page 2 of 2
Quidilla,on other occasions Kawauchi has returned some of their calls belatedly or not
at all.
Yagong,who appointed Kawauchi as clerk following the 2010 election,said he saw
Nago's report as an attempt by the state to"distance itself from the problems
encountered Saturday.
Yagong said that claims by state election officials that Kawauchi has not been in
sufficient contact were exaggerated.He said in one case,they refused to go to a
meeting she had at the state attorney general's office in Honolulu,insisting that she
meet with them at their Pearl City office instead.
Referring to the July 23 closure of the election office,Yagong said that could have been
handled better.
"Maybe she should have informed the election office of what she was doing,but she
was being thorough,"he said of the review that found four instances of people voting
twice in 2010 and several dozen voters registered more than once.
"I think she could also have provided more information to the press,"he said.
Nago's report included criticism of Kawauchi's failure to determine how many polling
places opened late.The six-page report said Kawauchi initially told his office that the
number was three,but Kawauchi told the attorney general's office that it was 25 and
later in the say she told Nago's office that it was at least 11.
Nago's report said during a meeting with her on Tuesday Kawauchi also could not
provide information as to why the polling places opened late,which prompted him to
conduct his own investigation.
Kawauchi's email said she was not even aware that Nago was investigating Saturday's
election on the Big Island.However,that had been reported by various media
including Big Island Now,which published an Wednesday entitled"State
Election Officials Conducting Own Investigation."
Today is Statehood Day in Hawai'i and a holiday for state and county workers,so
elections officials could not be reached for their reaction to Kawauchi's comments.
Yagong said today that the longest delays in opening of polling places occurred
following a sequence of events that began the night before the election when the ballot
supplies for the Waikoloa Elementary School were trucked to the Kona Civic Center
instead of the Waimea police station.
He said when Deputy County Clerk Steve Lopez retrieved the Walktoloa materials from
the civic center he found that the supplies for three Kona precincts,Kona Vistas,
Kahakai Elementary School and Kona Palisades,were still there.Because he wanted to
make sure they stayed secure,Lopez took them with him to Waikoloa—which opened
at 7:45 a.m.—before returning to Kona to finish the deliveries,Yagong said.
As a result,the Palisades station opened at 7:53 a.m.and the Kahakai and Kona Vistas
polls both opened at 8:4o a.m.
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