State lawmakers and voting-rights advocates gathered at the state Capitol on Thursday to oppose a recent recommendation from the Hawaii Elections Commission to eliminate universal mail-in voting and return to single-day, in-person elections.
Speakers called the commission’s proposal a step backward that would restrict voter access and mirror mainland partisan debates rather than local needs.
In October the Hawaii Elections Commission voted 5-3 to ask the Legislature to rescind the state’s universal mail-in voting system and return to single-day, in-person elections with limited absentee ballots — a dramatic reversal of the 2019 law that established all-mail voting statewide.
The panel spent hours in meetings debating the findings of two “permitted interactive groups” that a majority of commissioners said they believe cast enough doubt on Hawaii’s ballot security to call for the Legislature to ban mail-in voting across the state.
The agenda of the Elections Commission’s Oct. 1 meeting included discussion of whether to ask lawmakers to order an audit of Hawaii’s elections. But Commissioner Ralph Cushnie, who was appointed by the House Republican caucus leader and has repeatedly unsuccessfully sued elections chief Scott Nago, made a motion to instead ask the Legislature to go back to a single day of in-person voting.
State Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki) at Thursday’s gathering said the commission is “losing sight” of its mission to provide secure, accessible and convenient election services statewide. Hawaii adopted all-mail voting in 2020 after years of low voter turnout, and turnout rose from 34.8% in 2016 to 51.2% in the first year of the new system.
“Mail-in voting and early voting are here to stay,” Tam said in the state Capitol rotunda.
Tam argued that shifting back to in-person-only, single-day voting would sharply reduce access, suppress turnout, and undo years of progress by making elections less secure and less accessible for thousands of Hawaii voters.
He also noted that in his urban district, kupuna make up nearly half of residents — 48.1%, according to AARP Hawaii — making vote-by-mail an important tool for seniors and people with limited mobility.
State Rep. Tina Grandinetti (D, Kahala-Kaimuki-Kapahulu) said her experience campaigning last summer underscored how mail-in voting encourages deeper engagement from working families, students and rural residents.
“It works because it’s simple,” she said. “It makes it easier for local working people to submit their ballot, and in doing so it makes democracy more accessible.”
Grandinetti said she supports maintaining in-person voting options, especially for kupuna who value the community aspect of going to a polling place. But she noted that last year, 92.5% of Hawaii voters cast their ballots by mail.
“There’s no credible evidence of fraud,” she said. “To take this option away is tantamount to voter suppression.”
House and Senate leaders have not yet issued a formal response to the commission’s call to roll back the current voting system, but Tam indicated that most lawmakers are unlikely to back the proposal.
Camron Hurt, director of Common Cause Hawaii, accused the commission of importing mainland political rhetoric into Hawaii and ignoring real solutions that would improve access.
“What we see is members of the commission bringing continental politics to this state that do not belong,” Hurt said. “Inconsistencies do not mean fraud. … Instead of putting forward recommendations that (would) improve our voting system here, the commission has found itself in a partisan fight that is not native or needed in this state.”
Hurt questioned why commissioners have not proposed expanding ballot drop boxes — particularly in Native Hawaiian and rural communities — or increasing the number of in-person voting locations on Oahu and the neighbor islands.
“If you truly want to help, then help,” he said. “Bringing unnecessary drama to our state … is nothing more than egregious.”
Aria Juliet Castillo of the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action said mail-in voting has steadily become the norm since 2014, when more than half of voters cast early ballots.
She urged the commission to “strengthen and expand” access, not roll it back.
Among the improvements Castillo suggested were expanding voter service centers on neighbor islands, modernizing automatic voter registration, increasing opportunities for public observation of ballot processing, improving the state’s ballot-tracking software, extending the signature-cure period from five to 10 days, and investing in voter education.
“The answer to public concern is not fear,” she said. “It’s facts, openness and engagement.”
She also shared a statement from a Hawaii island resident who described living in a remote agricultural subdivision with over 75 miles of unpaved roads and virtually no public transportation. The resident noted that requiring people to travel more than an hour each way to vote on a single day is unrealistic, stressing that mail-in voting is essential for their community.
Joshua Frost, policy advocate for the ACLU of Hawaii, said the commission’s recommendation contradicts its core mission. He noted that as democratic norms face increasing pressure, protecting the right to vote is more important than ever.
Frost emphasized that mail-in voting has broadened access, boosted participation and proven effective, and he called the idea of reverting to single-day, in-person voting “nonsensical.”
Frost and others called on the Legislature to intervene next session to protect mail-in voting and pursue reforms that expand access.
Source: The Garden Island
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