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Home My WebLink AboutCOMM. 159 Goodenow, K - CA-7 Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer ENOW County Clerk KENNETH G. GOOD County of Hawai‘i Office of the County Clerk Facsimile: (808) 961-8912 Deputy County Clerk January 20, 2010 ent via e-mail to keoff@co.hawaii.hi.us; no hard copy will follow 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Telephone: (808) 961-8255 RODNEY OSHIRO S s of the ommission y Council ilo, Hawai‘i 96720 RE: Comments about Charter Amendment Proposal CA-7 ear Chairman Hiatsuka and Commission Members: 2-1.5 and 12-1.6 of Article XII “Removal f Elected Officers” of the current Charter. etition Requirements (Section 12-1.2) Honorable Edmund Hiatsuka and Member County of Hawai‘i Charter C c/o Hawai‘i Count 25 Aupuni Street H D Thank you for the opportunity to comment on proposed Charter amendment CA-7 which would amend sections 12-1.1, 12-1.2, 1 o P Charter amendment CA-7 reads: ed nguage underscored and deleted language bracketed: Section 2. Article XII, Chapter 1, section 12-1.2, Hawai‘i County Charter, is amended to read as follows, with add la “Section 12-1.2. Petitions. Signers of a recall petition shall print their [names and their signature, their residence address, and the date of signing on said petition] name, which shall be reasonably similar to their name as Honorable Edmund Hiatsuka and Members of the County of Hawai‘i Charter Commission Re: CA-7 January 20, 2010 Page 2 appears on the general county register for the County of Hawai‘i it and add their signature, month and day of their birth date, and the last four digits of their social security number on said petition. To each such petition paper there shall be attached an affidavit o circulator thereof, stating the number of signers to such part of th petition and that e f the e ach signature of the person whose name it urports to be, and that each signer understood the nature of the The primary concern I have with this amendment is that it removes the requirement that signers rs. at the person’s “residence was acquired with the intent to make Hawaii the person’s legal residence with all the accompanying obligations therein.” her r at of the register for that election; or, moved to a new residence within the same precinct as the person’s residence as listed re nce address, they are at the incorrect precinct, they must take a copy of the RAF to the new precinct and the voter’s name will be added to the poll book by correction order. p recall petition.” of a petition must provide a residence address. Charter section 12-1.1(a) requires that petitions be signed by qualified vote Our office interprets this to mean that the person signing the petition be registered to vote and actually be a resident in the appropriate district or county as the case may be. Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (“HRS”) § 11-15 requires a person registering to vote to make an affidavit that contains a statement th HRS § 11-17(b) also states: The clerk shall also identify or remove the name of any registered voter, if the clerk, after mailing a notice or other correspondence, properly addressed, with postage prepaid receives the notice or ot correspondence as return mail with a postal notation that the notice or other correspondence was not deliverable. On election day, any person identified or removed shall have the person’s name corrected o restored in the register and shall be allowed to vote if the person completes an affidavit or other form prescribed by the chief election officer affirming that the person: claims the person’s legal residence the address listed on the register; changed the person’s legal residence after the closing on the register. Clearly, simply being registered to vote at a certain residence does not entitle a voter to vote if they no longer reside there. At the poll book station on Election Day, voters a asked to verify their information in the poll book, which includes residence address. If the address is incorrect, the voter must complete a Re-registration Application Form (RAF) before being allowed to vote. If based on their new reside Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Honorable Edmund Hiatsuka and Members of the County of Hawai‘i Charter Commission Re: CA-7 January 20, 2010 Page 3 ing ualified voter. As recall petitions may be specific to one council district, this inf ation is important to verify that a person is qualified to vote in a particular council A-7 re to es. r een a common issue in the past. We have no objection to stating that the name listed on s on the general county register. xamin Without a residence address listed on a recall petition, there is no way of know if a person is a q orm district. In addition to deleting the requirement that a residence address be provided, C amends section 12-1.2 by requiring persons signing a petition to add their birth date and the last four digits of their social security number. While not very difficult, it would require our office to verify this additional information. Also, if this amendment we pass, it is our interpretation of the charter to require all items called for in the Charter, i.e., if a person listed an incorrect date of birth or the last four digits of their social security number, or left the space for this information blank, their name would not be counted in determining whether the petition contained a sufficient number of signatur In my opinion, providing a date of birth or the last four digits of a social security numbe is not necessary. While it might be argued that having the last four digits of a social security number may assist our office in cases of an illegibly printed name, this has not b a petition be reasonably similar to their name as it appear E ation of Supplemental Petitions (Section 12-1.5) This Amendment would provide the county clerk ten, as opposed to five, wor days to examine supplemental petitions and determine if a petition co king ntains sufficient gnatures and prepare a certificate showing the result of such an examination. The si Office of the County Clerk supports this amendment to the Charter. Requisite Number of Qualified Voters (Sections 12-1.1 and 12-1.6) The current requirement based on registered voters is an easily specified number. My office requests that clarification be provided for the term “persons who voted.” Would this number include persons who took a ballot, but cast a blank vote? What about persons who over-voted for more than one candidate? After discussing this matter w Election Administrator Pat Nakamoto, I respectfully request that if this proposed change is to be adopted, the Commission amend CA-7 by deleting the phrase “persons who voted” and replacing it with “total ballots cast in the last preceding general election” (an “total ballots cast in the district in the last general elections”) or in the alternative “valid votes cast in the last preceding general election” (and “valid votes cast in the district in the last preceding general election”). I note that ith d certified results as provided by the State Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Honorable Edmund Hiatsuka and Members of the County of Hawai‘i Charter Commission Re: CA-7 January 20, 2010 Page 4 Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer erm “all votes validly cast.” If I can provide further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Yours, very truly, Office of Elections are by total ballots cast and Section 13-27 “County Election” of our Charter uses the t me at 961-8271. KENNETH G. GOODENOW County Clerk